I agree Jim....you notice all the shells in Eleuthera (no chemicals used in
their yards)!!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists of America List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jim Miller
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 8:58 PM
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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