Blue [Green] Revolution: Florida Must Act Now

Water Ethos Takes Time to Sink in

Florida has been having a nostalgic summer, reminiscent of the days when I grew up and it rained like clockwork at least once in between noon and 4 p.m. Despite the year's regular summer rains, Florida remains in a drought, much like the majority of the country. The rains, however, only further muddle the understanding of the drought. Last Wednesday, Cynthia Barnett, a Gainesville local and award winning author and journalist, spoke to a group of about 40 people, who crammed into a gallery room at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Gainesville with hopes of getting her two books, Mirage and Blue Revolution — Unmaking America's Water Crisis, signed.

Many came simply because Florida is once again facing a water crisis from both drought and over-consumption, and Barnett is a wealth of valuable knowledge in this arena.

Mirage, her first book, describes in excellent detail how Florida came into this water predicament in the first place: overdevelopment, draining of wetlands, over-consumption, and too many Consumptive Use Permits (CUPs) for various agricultural and industrial processes. In her newest book, Blue Revolution, she advocates "a new way of living with and valuing water in every sector of the economy." Essentially, a water ethos.

The talk was hosted by the Central Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, so much of the audience was aware of Florida's long standing water crisis. Longtime Florida natives listened to Barnett attentively as they lamented over the springs that they once played in as children — the springs that are now dried up and no longer flowing.

http://www.thefineprintuf.org/2012/09/15/cynthia-barnett-water-gainesville/