Todd Remmel, the Palm Beach County chapter vice-chair of the Surfrider Foundation, which organized the Lake Worth event at the city commission's request; the foundation is dedicated to preserving the beaches. Other groups, like the Palm Beach Democratic Party and the Sierra Club, joined in.
When I first wrote on this upcoming event, I commented on the controversy drilling always stirs up. And as a fourth generation south Floridian I think I have the distinct privilege of commenting on the history of the Florida coast.
Let's face the facts:
1. Florida's history has alway been one of exploitation. From the simple (Seminole Indians wrestling alligators for tourists) to the complex (U.S. Sugar polluting the Everglades and Florida Bay with the runoff from the sugar cane industry).
2. My dad used to fish the beaches on the southeast Florida coast. Don't tell me that the monster hotels along Miami Beach didn't ruin the beaches. In California this was never allowed. The beaches belong to everyone (oh, and they have oil rigs offshore in California). There is not a speck of free public access anywhere along Miami Beach. Luckily, here in Jupiter and Juno we have 5-6 miles of pristine, free, clean, "dog-friendly" beaches....and they will stay that way.
3. How about running cypress trees through a chipper to make mulch for our homes?
4. How about capturing dolphins to train to amuse children at Sea World? When I was a kid I remembering hearing how high the bounty was on dolphins caught and sold to the Miami Seaquarium.
In any event, the choices that we as Americans, spoon fed on cheap oil for the last 50 years, will have to make in the coming years will be very difficult. Unless we develop a lifestyle like the Amish.
There's more over at http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.net/ or www.youtube.com/richardsites
