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Should we drain the Everglades?
- JohnDeHope 1y agoAs a Pasco county alumni, I think we should drop the people who want to drain the everglades off in the everglades and leave them in there until they gain an appreciation for the scenery.
- bdamm 1y agoOr until they become lunch?
- dfltr 1y agoUntil the scenery gains an appreciation for them, you might say.
- ecocentrik 1y agoDo we really want to introduce more invasive species into the Everglades?
- tomcam 1y agoWhatever the karma is on this, it should be double
- ecocentrik 1y agoThe python hunters of Florida do all the heavy lifting for this joke. If you're not aware, python hunting is a state funded industry with the stated goal of controlling the spread of the invasive species in the Everglades. It has done very little to slow the growth of the python population in Florida but has created a demand for new roads and service buildings. Most python hunters farm overflow areas near roads, canals and flood gates, avoiding nests.
- clickety_clack 1y agoThe Everglades will continue until morale improves!
- potato3732842 1y agoWe ought to balance it out by doing something comparable to the people who simp for heavy handed regulations in areas that have already been build up and altered greatly by humans.
- JohnDeHope 1y agoIt’s true. I was more expressing a sentiment than suggesting a course of political or legislative action. I await my punishment.
- nedrylandJP 1y agoYeah! let's Make Everglades Zug Island Again!
- cwmoore 1y agoIsn't that "The Pasco Promise"?
- devoutsalsa 1y agoNot sure is that would work, as @fishinggarrett will yoink them for being an invasive species.
- epiccoleman 1y agooh man, thanks for the pointer to that guy. my oldest son will absolutely love him.
- Meph504 1y agowhat an odd clickbait type article, it goes over the history of people who previously wanted to do this. But mention there is no current effort to do so, and asking the question is irrelevant.
- guywithahat 1y agoI was disappointed too. It was a topic of the 1908 election and the 1880's, not something people discuss now.
- aaronbwebber 1y agobetteridge's law of headlines still undefeated
- bee_rider 1y agoBit of a layup for it in this case.
- Cheer2171 1y agoHalfway in I realized the author is just narrating the Wikipedia article. If you'd rather just read it without the attempts to be funny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_and_development_of_the_Everglades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_and_development_of_th...
- ksymph 1y agoWish I noticed before submitting, I would have just shared that instead. Oh well. Thanks.
- ElijahLynn 1y agothe comedy was what got me through it, probably wouldn't have read the Wikipedia article, fwiw.
- zem 1y agoI enjoyed the author's style, personally
- rubyfan 1y agoFelt like AI to me
- littlestymaar 1y agoPlease tell me which AI writes like that by default so I can recommend it to everyone who copy-paste the obnoxious chatGPT slop answers in the comment sections.
- randallsquared 1y agoNo, this was much more entertaining to read.
- 4pkjai 1y agoNormally I don't, but liked the humour.
- inglor_cz 1y agoOnce upon a time, draining wetlands was the only somewhat efficient way to reduce malaria. That made sense, given the drop in mortality. Lots of places in Italy, for example, are ex-swamps.
- neilv 1y agoI've heard the theory that humor is actually a censor mechanism, to inhibit learning nonsense. So, IIUC, if the censor identifies something nonsensical, it throws the amusement switch, to keep your brain from integrating the wrong thing. While we might think that the presentations of fact in the article are informative, the humor-saturated prose could be a good way to cloud any thinking about the topic. Does this mean it's OK to mention expanding the Florida Everglades? One could plan out a path of bulldozing, excavation, and flood fills, given an existing map of gerrymandering for national elections.
- yesbut 1y agono
- ortusdux 1y agoSpeaking of the uncanny feeling of shallow water, there are parts of the Florida keys where you can paddle a kayak a good half a mile from shore and still be in 2-4 ft of water. It's a great place to learn a new watersport as if you fall in you can just stand up.
- Rendello 1y agoLeeches freak me out, I can't imagine swimming with (or falling on) the gators!
- stronglikedan 1y agoThe alligators are generally scared of people. It's the crocs that you got to worry about. (not really though - even they are quite timid, unlike their African counterparts)
- soperj 1y agoWhy? That's like being afraid of mosquitoes. You can't even really feel a leech.
- squigz 1y agoWell GP didn't say they were afraid. I have pretty much the same reaction of being "freaked out" by leeches too. And while my reaction to mosquitoes is hardly the same, I'm going to avoid both if I possibly can, which seems entirely reasonable to me Anyway you don't feel leeches coming off? That's surprising.
- Rendello 1y agoThat's right, I (GP) am not really afraid of them, I just find leeches and bloodsuckers quite unpleasant. A funny story: a few years ago I went canoeing up a small river with my younger cousin. There's not a lot of current because the river is shallow and there are beaver dams around every corner. Most of the dams are unused and broken up, but the river's so shallow in the late summer that they block quite a bit of water anyway and necessitate portaging. My cousin, being young, gets bored and stops padding, though he's still willing to help portage. We zig zag up the small river, crashing into either side every few paddlestrokes, because I hadn't realized that being the heavier one, I should be in the back of the canoe. Eventually we get to a large felled tree blocking the river, and we attempt to portage around it, but the banks are quite steep and thick with brush, and I end up losing the canoe down the river. The current is slow, still, but the canoe is floating away, so I have to strip down and jump in after it. Unfortunately my feet touched the bottom and I was covered in bloodsuckers large and small, some of which hid themselves under my feet and between my toes for the rest of the excursion. When I got back to the house, I lifted my leg, put my foot in the sink, and said "get the salt!"
- mrbluecoat 1y ago> 5x the size of JFK (the airport, not the person) lol
- cramcgrab 1y agoFresh water = bad
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jason_s 1y agoCalifornia's Central Valley would like a cautionary word....
- bandyaboot 1y ago> Hopefully nothing that advances a dystopian fascist agenda, right? Right? Hey! You can’t say that! That’s wrong speak!
- SilverElfin 1y agoOne thing I don’t understand is why so many appreciate the Everglades. To me a landscape infested with aggressive animals (gators) doesn’t sound attractive or safe. Between them and the invasive snakes I feel like you would need to be on guard all the time. Maybe drain it, replace it with different animals that are friendly, and then refill it. I’m only sort of joking.
- CGMthrowaway 1y agoDuring the lockdown I canoed thru the everglades and camped on the islands as it was one of the only places open. It's a lot more than gators. I saw a family of dolphins teaching their child to swim and jump. The fishing is incredible. The gators arent the worst pest (the biting insects are). You can spot manatee. Of course it's a paradise for birds. And that way that mangroves ultimately create dry land from nothing is quite amazing.
- jason-phillips 1y agoI used to swim with alligators in the bayou when I was a kid in the 1980s. They're not so bad.
- Dilettante_ 1y agoAmos Moses, is that you?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- hnuser123456 1y agoIt sounds like hurricanes keep it topped off. So then what, you design some poison to only attack gators, then find out later it poisons people too? Because draining it and then discovering that underground wells turn to saltwater isn't enough?
- hedora 1y ago
- scythe 1y ago>Did this giant dike work? Did the 143 miles of dikes work? Let’s see what Wikipedia says: >>The enlarged water control structures around Lake Okeechobee and in the Everglades did not prevent either frequent floods or dry spells in which cattle died for lack of water and fires burned in the peat of the Everglades. >So yeah, that’s a no. A big ol’ drought (technical term) ensued! This is a good example of how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. We actually do know that the Hoover Dike worked: it survived Hurricanes Andrew, Francis, Wilma, Milton, and several others I probably forgot to mention.
- toomanyrichies 1y agoThe headline reminds me of the Mr. Show sketch about America blowing up the moon [1]. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJ3LIA5LmA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJ3LIA5LmA
- howard941 1y agoSea level rise will finish the 'glades.
- p1necone 1y agoThe only people I trust to fuck with wetlands without finding out are the Dutch, and even then I suspect the find out part is still due shortly after they vote some populist politician in asking why they're spending all those taxpayer dollars maintaining dykes and water infrastructure when there's not even any water here?
- hwc 1y agoI used to live in this part of the country. There's an insane amount of disregard for the environment and climate. Yes, new buildings have to be reinforced against hurricanes. But they are still building new houses only a few meters above sea level, as if sea level rise wasn't already unavoidable. And on the largest scale, there is a limit to the amount of fresh groundwater that wells along the South Florida coast can get. Once they exceed that amount, they'll be pumping brackish water seeping in from the ocean. Then they have to desalinate the brackish water. But the last time I was there, they were still building new houses.
- fijiaarone 1y agoHow do you feel about Holland?
- hedora 1y agoHolland’s dykes are mostly built on impermeable clay. As I understand it, that’s not possible in Florida, or at least in places like Miami, where the soil is almost entirely sand. Holland has been creating progressively better soil surveys since the 1800’s, partially to allow them to place dykes intelligently. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016706113000992 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00167...
- dhussoe 1y agoWell.. what’s the level of belief in climate change among elected Dutch leaders? https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/05/15/desantis-signs-bill-erasing-the-term-climate-change-from-state-law/ https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/05/15/desantis-signs-bill-er...
- hopelite 1y agoI feel that Holland does not have hurricanes. For context; only the hurricane we have a clear record of had 8.5 meter storm surges. I’m not sure, can the Dutch barriers hold that back?
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- darkerside 1y agoIf it's so shallow, it seems like draining it would have little impact on flood risk
- rcxdude 1y agoThis reminds me of something much more local to me, which is similar but perhaps looking from the other direction in time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fens
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- chrisallick 1y agono
- datavirtue 1y agoWhat is: Dr. Evil's plan to set off a global catastrophy?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Levitating 1y agoThe IJsselmeer and Markermeer (of what used to be the Zuiderzee) in the Netherlands isn't much deeper but together I think quite a bit bigger than Okeechobee
- seatac76 1y agoEverglades as a biological system is perhaps one of the most unique things in the world. I don’t think there is one like this. It was eye opening to visit, have never been this close to Aligators. It should be preserved in totality, for as long as we can, it is an American treasure. Unsustainable building in Florida is not a good enough reason to drain the Everglades.
- therobots927 1y agoIt’s such a shame that a state with such valuable natural resources is filled with people that just straight up don’t appreciate it.