Jim,
So sorry to hear about the demise of St. Joe's Bay, a lovely spot. I stayed
for a week at St. Teresa, a relatively uncommercialized area near
Carrabelle, in 1999 and it looked to me to be under stress already.
This weekend, I went to Holden Beach, NC, and someone on the beach was
remembering years back when "you could find sand dollars and sea horses and
all kinds of things you can't find any more."
There's still a bit left to plunder and the masters of "do what we say and
not what we do" are firmly in charge--unless we the people put them in
check.
David Kirsh
Durham, NC
> From: Jim Miller <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 20:58:15 -0400
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Marine reserve created off Stewart Island
>
> If only our own country possessed the foresight to create similar
> commercial free environments. As an example of our own lack of an
> eco-friendly future: Florida (under the Jeb Bush administration with
> the approval of our legislature) is now opening up the St. Joseph Bay
> area to commercial development, which will likely damage or destroy a
> great deal of what is the largest contiguous area of shallow sea
> grass beds in the state. In fact, huge ads in this Sunday's
> Tallahassee Democrat boldly announced the availability of choice
> bayside properties stretching all along the coast from Mexico Beach
> to Carrabelle (which is east of the St. Joe Bay area). Wow! Who wants
> to be the first to kill off the sea grass thanks to unchecked
> nitrogen runoff from all those new lawns. A veritable fairyland of
> bluegreen algae is in our future, choking out all life. Wave goodbye
> to the turtles and dolphins and seahorses and Bay scallops (just to
> keep this shell-related)!
>
> My wife also reminded that while the U.S. pressured Brazil (and other
> south and central American countries) to stop the destruction of the
> tropical rain forest, we had a mere 2 to 4% of our own forested lands
> preserved (depending on who you believe). We sure set a good example,
> don't we?
>
> Do I have a political agenda? You bet! And I'm not ashamed of it
> either. I have refused to use any type of chemical fertilizers to
> promote the growth of a "front lawn" under the canopy of old growth
> oaks and magnolia on my property. In the seven years since we moved
> in, the property is quickly reverting to its natural state and that's
> the way I intend to keep it. Not surprisingly, there is a shockingly
> high rate of cancer among pets who live on property that is regularly
> "manicured" (fertilized and sprayed for control of "weeds and natural
> grasses") by companies like TruGreen Chemlawn. Geez, just the name
> should tell you something is really wrong with that approach!!
>
> Best regards,
> Jim
>
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