January 15th 1970 (2. pg732)
The prevention of this new jetport has been the sole focus of my new organization, Friends of the Everglades.
The organization itself was partially my idea, but I also have Joe Browder and his assistant, a gal named Wilson, for helping the idea develop. They were fighting to stop the construction of the jetport before Friends of the Everglades was founded.
I met Wilson one night in a grocery store and said "I think you and Joe are doing great work. It's wonderful." She looked me square in the eye and said, "Yeah, what are you doing?" "Oh me?" I said. "I wrote the book." "That's not enough," she countered. "We need people to help us." To get out of this conversation, I casually mumbled some platitude like "I'll do whatever I can."
You couldn't say "I'll do whatever I can" casually around Joe Browder. He was at my doorstep the next day and asked me to issue a ringing denunciation of the jetport to the press. I suggested that nobody could care particularly about my ringing denunciation of anything, and that such things are more important if they come from organizations. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Well why don't you start an organization?" So there I was, stuck with a challenge that began as a polite rejoinder in the grocery store line. (1. pg225)
I came up with the name Friends of the Everglades, and decided anyone could join for a dollar. I elected some acquaintances as the treasurer, vice president, and secretary. Soon, I started making speeches to any organization that would listen to me. I got 15 or 20 new members, at $1 a piece, every time I spoke. In a year we had over 500, and in another year over 1,000, and eventually 3,000 members from over 38 states. (1. pg226)
Now that the jetport has been stopped, I think the Friends of the Everglades will continue on the addressing the general predicament of water quality and the various water control projects that engineers are so eager to build. All of this water control is turning the natural environment of the Everglades into farm land, shrinking the habitat for the native species that call this land their home. Art Marshal, a scholar dedicated to the study on conservation, has taught me that much of the rainfall on which South Florida depends comes from the evaporation of the Everglades. We have Marshal to thank for taking the Everglades out of the bleeding-hearts category forever. (1. pg227)
1.Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990.
2. Gilmour, Robert S., and John A. McCauley. “Environmental Preservation and Politics: The Significance of ‘Everglades Jetport.’” Political Science Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 4, 1975, pp. 719–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2148753. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
Photo: Carter, Luther J. “Land Use Law (II): Florida Is a Major Testing Ground.” Science, vol. 182, no. 4115, 1973, pp. 902–08. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1737727. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
