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@kellyslater : #SouthFlorida has been inundated with a toxic algae infestation directly tied to the #BigSugar industry. They’re in a state of emergency. Dead manatees, turtles, dolphins, fish, etc. inundating beaches and waterways has become the norm as of late. Some shark migrations have also dwindled offshore. A small snippet from one news article reads....’On issue after issue, regulators, legislators and governors have erred on the side of softening the impact of adverse rules and regulations on cane growers and other powerful and polluting agriculture interests, including cattle operations north of Lake Okeechobee. The sugar industry beat back a voter-approved amendment that would have forced it to pay for cleaning up its own nutrient-rich runoff into the Everglades, instead shifting much of the cost to taxpayers. Etc, etc, etc’. When boats hit manatees they create speed limits and slow zones but when the whole place goes south and everything dies, nobody seems to be doing much to fix it, seemingly due to the players at hand and their power in influencing state government decisions. On a separate issue, The #IndianRiverLagoon system in #CentralFlorida suffers from pesticide runoff, sewage overflows (20M gallons of raw sewage spilled/released into the rivers during Hurricane Irma), and brown algae caused from a number of different sources killing sea grass which feeds and protects manatees, fish, and crustaceans. Oysters, clams, scallops, and fish have been dying en masse for years in water devoid of oxygen that looks more like olive-brown/red chocolate soup. The bloom in the #CocoaBeach area has been going on so long it’s hard to remember the last time our canals and rivers were clear. As kids we ate fish and clams from the rivers. Today, I wouldn’t even think about it. In 2013, 50 dolphins, 111 manatees, and around 300 pelicans died in the Indian River Lagoon. This year looks to be starting with prime conditions for algal blooms earlier in the summer. I’m not sure what the