Political Quotes

“The Everglades is sick. This sickness has been long coming. It was approximately 120 years ago that man looked at the Everglades and realized that it was different, different than almost anything he or she had seen before, and seeing this phenomenon of the Everglades, made a commitment. The commitment was to turn the unique into the pedestrian by converting the Everglades into something that would look more like man and woman had seen in other areas of this country or other areas of the world. The result of that has been 120 years of an effort to change the Everglades, to convert the singular into the common. The results of that 120 years have brought the Everglades to their current position. This cannot be cured without the serious surgery that we are about to sanction by the passage of this legislation. Since the passage of the central and south Florida flood control project in 1948, placing the Everglades in the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers at the direction of Congress, nearly half of the original Everglades have been drained or otherwise altered. According to the National Parks and Conservation Association, the parks and the preserves of the Everglades, of whichever Everglades National Park is the jewel, are among the 10 most endangered national parks in the country. As Florida's Governor in 1983, I launched an effort known as 'Save Our Everglades.' Its purpose was to revitalize this precious ecosystem. The goal was simple. We wanted to turn back time.”