Big Sugar, Lake Okeechobee, and Florida's Water

Recent years have seen voter mandates to the Florida Legislature to deal with Everglades protection, dramatic videos of summer time red tide and green slime outbreaks (see videos below) on both of South Florida's coasts, and considerable infighting in the Legislature over whether or not to deal with the growing crisis in South Florida's water flow.

A. Read these online stories and view the video as background prior to participating in his Forum. Do not participate in the discussion without having this background knowledge.

• Big Sugar Hires 64 Lobbyists in Tallahassee
• Bittersweet: The Sugar Industry in South Florida
• Florida Legislature Passes Everglades Restoration Bill – May 2017
• Lake Okeechobee: A Time Warp for Polluted Water
• What is Eutrophication? (video)
• U.S. Sugar Corporation home page
• What is Florida's Red Tide?
• Blue-green algae

B. Now answer the following questions in your posting and number your responses B1 and B2 (worth 6 points).

1. How has cartoonist Doug MacGregor used the cartoon at the top of this page to illustrate the current status of the quality of South Florida's water flow? That is, how has he used the map, colors, shapes, etc. to tell this story? Be sure to include in your discussion the aspects of South Florida's water flow as part of the Greater Everglades Ecosystems. (4 points)

2. Describe whether or not you think the illustration is accurate in its depiction. Use your textbook readings or the above articles/video to support your description. (2 points)