Sierra Club Hosts 33rd Annual Everglades Coalition Conference Focusing on Inclusion, Equity, and Sending Water South
Conference Brings New Voices to the Table
Carl Hiaasen, Bill Nelson and Bob Graham topped some of the big names at the Everglades Coalition conference this year in Stuart, but the real showstoppers were people you may not heard of. Activists like Kina Phillips, Betty Osceola, Steve Messam and Antonio Tovar. They are bringing a long-underrepresented voice to the Everglades movement. They are Glades residents, indigenous tribe members, and farmworkers; those who fight air and water pollution daily.
More than 300 people attended the conference, hosted by the Sierra Club, which brought together scientists, policy makers and the public.
Sierra Club National Board of Directors Vice President Susana Reyes, from California, spoke about the Club's plans to take on the Trump Administration and increase the diversity of the environmental movement.
The conference was a showcase for the Sierra Club, its volunteers and staff and its Florida campaigns. Sierra Club's Our Wild America Florida staff manager Cris Costello moderated the panel on diversity, inclusion and equity featuring speakers from Belle Glade, Glades County and the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes. Costello began by saying "This session represents what we hope is the beginning of a dialogue with the front line communities, those most directly affected by the hardships associated with an un-restored Everglades, in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area." The intent was to provide each of the panelists the opportunity to introduce their tribe or community to the conference attendees, and thereby start not only a conversation but also the building of relationships.
A separate panel on Saturday morning was focused on the environmental justice campaign to end pre-harvest sugar field burning, which disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). The panel covered the following topics: scope of preharvest sugar field burning in Florida and the many benefits of green harvesting the alternative to pre-harvest burning (Sierra Club organizing representative Patrick Ferguson), the science documenting the negative impacts pre-harvest burning causes to both public and environmental health, (Dr. William Louda, Professor at FAU) how pre-harvest sugar field burning negatively impacts the quality of life for Glades community residents along with the importance of using one's voice to speak out against injustice, (Kina Phillips Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign Leader) and the health issues affecting migrant farm workers from industrial farming practices similar to pre-harvest sugar field burning along with the intimidation they receive which prevents them from publicly speaking out (Antonio Tovar Farmworkers Association).
The coalition also featured elected officials. Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Weston) and Brian Mast (R-Stuart) spoke to the Friday dinner audience, showing bipartisan support for the River of Grass. Senate President Joe Negron, who won an award for his legislation to build a reservoir in former sugar fields, also spoke.
The Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir was a major topic at the Conference. It's an industrial-scale, high walled version of what is needed to send water south to the Everglades. Everglades advocates are not happy about the reservoir's design, and right before the conference they approved a letter to the Governor (click here.) asking him to consider other better options to provide the needed clean water.
A large number of people came from the Stuart area, ground zero for guacamole-thick algae. The River Warriors and Bullsugar.org, groups dedicated to eliminating polluting water from Lake Okeechobee and storing and cleaning it south of Lake Okeechobee before it reaches the Everglades, were in full force.
Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Tribe and a long-time water quality activist, won the John V. Kabler Grassroots Organizing Award. Her most recent victory was leading the effort to stop the River of Grass Greenway, a 76-mile long, 14-ft wide paved pathway that would have destroyed wetlands and other critical habitat from Naples to Miami
Senator Bob Graham, who helped convene the very first Everglades Coalition conference, said deep well injection is "a very bad idea."
Senator Bill Nelson held the line on offshore oil drilling and educated people on the Everglades.
Author Carl Hiaasen railed against the legislature, Rick Scott and Donald Trump. He also encouraged Everglades advocates to keep up the fight.
Belle Glade sugar field burning activists with Susana Reyes.
Dr. William Louda discusses health impacts of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs).
This year's conference cover.
Award winner Betty Osceola with Sierra Club Everglades organizer Diana Umpierre.
Best-selling author and Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen with Sierra Club National Board of Directors Vice President Susana Reyes.
Sierra Club Florida Chair Mark Walters and Director Frank Jackalone.
Senator Bill Nelson with Sierra Club Florida Board member Alyssa Cadwalader.
Belle Glade activist Kina Phillips and Sierra Club Florida Co-Conservation Chair Darryl Rutz.
U.S. Representative and former Governor Charlie Crist.
Former Governor Bob Graham with Miami Group Excom member Linda Benson and Florida Sierra Club Excom member Stephen Mahoney. / Photo by Kathy Teas
Betty Osceola and Stan Pannaman.
Kina Phillips and Antonio Tovar.
Senator Bill Nelson and Sierra Club Beyond Coal Organizer Gonzalo Valdez.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Steve Messam, and Kina Phillips.
Sierra Club volunteers and staff.