"Paradise Lost" - Part 4 (14,15)

While admiring the Florida’s historical heritage, editors note that “historians initially failed to gaze beyond the human activities.” The earlier attempts usually dealt with environment (Dovel) or with “human drama” (Hanna). The following works of 1970s and 1980s more and more drove their attention to connection between the past and recent changes of the Florida’s environment, especially re flora and fauna. The recent work is the attempt to explore “Florida’s past through the lens of environmental history.”
The installment composed by Bruce Stephenson, A ”Monstrous Desecration” (Ch. 14) discusses the devastating ecological situation of the lagoon at Boca Ciega Bay, which even provoked a political controversy in 1950s and 1970s. Giving the short history of the region and its resort, the author shows, how the “postwar building bum” damaged the surrounding environment, especially its water wells. Various committees tried to conserve national resources, regulate dredging operations and assist in proper planning. But the entire campaign turned out to be a dilemma (including legality as well as supervening illegality) of how to modify various projects on the expense of the opponent. As the result of the controversies between varies organization, the Boca Ciega lost much of its initial marine and landscape. Situation, concludes the author, still continues with the recent administration (by the time when book was published) and the lessons learned “have been lost.”
I always wanted to ask this question: is there a way to develop an area without damaging its environmental surroundings so pursued by the capitalistic entrepreneurs?

Gordon Harvey in “We must free ourselves…” (Ch.15) explores another involvement of politics into environment, referring to Florida as a “victim of its allure.” Taking as an example Everglades watering system, the author analyzes ecological problems in region, notably, an occurrence of “evapo-transpiration” thanks to the human intervention. Some places, such as Big Cypress Swamp, being under pressure from the developers, even lost governmental protection. As with the case of Boca Ciega Bay the biggest problem became a water supply for the area and necessity to balance economic and environmental needs. The author clearly specifies that the situation with Cypress became a vehicle to promote somebody’s political agenda (during the Nixon’s reelection of 1970s) where protection was substituted with acquisition. Thanks to the Florida’s governor Reubin Askew, legislative was actively asked to get involved in preservation of the state “for the people and all other living things, which makes Florida a place worth living.” However, it produced a huge controversy between the government and the private proprietorship. After much debate, involving system of government bond issues and federal involvement, in 1974 Congress voted to establish Big Cypress National Preserve, that is, a national park. It later was converted to the establishment of the Florida’s environmental policy for the years to come.
However, what seems to be omitted in this article is the voce of the ordinary people, who were living on the land; surely, not all of them should be referred as “communists taking over American lands.”