If We Can't Save the Everglades, What Can We Save?

I just started reading Michael Grunwald's book on the Everglades, The Swamp, after hearing him speak last week and picking up a copy afterwards. It sounds like a fascinating read, especially since Grunwald in his talk framed the story of the Everglades as a momentous trial by fire for the concept of ecosystem restoration. "The ultimate test of sustainable development," he called it. We've already lost half of the original Everglades, but late in the Clinton years a huge, bipartisan restoration plan was put in place. Saving the Everglades is now popular, uncontroversial, and well-funded. Yet nevertheless, according to Grunwald restoration is behind schedule, over budget, and off track. Meanwhile, the Everglades ecosystem is in a state of meltdown. We're on the verge of failing our test. Grunwald's book look to be an excellent guide to the history of how we got here; moreover, the question it poses has broad application to any environmental mess. Can we really reverse the problems we've caused, before it's too late? In this respect I was fascinated by Grunwald's response to a question about how the Everglades will be affected by climate change and especially sea level rise. The current restoration plan, he said, doesn't pay a lot of attention to this problem, but "a few feet are going to make a big difference." Hmm, how much of a difference will 25 feet make? How about 80 feet, as James Hansen warned about if the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets disintegrate? Saving the Everglades may be a test in more ways than we think. Anyway, I encourage you to read Grunwald's book to figure out how we got into this mess, and how to get out of it. And remember: The right response to environmental books like this is not to get depressed, but rather, to get motivated--and even to get angry.