Environmentalists spoke Thursday about Florida’s massive growth and its impact on the state’s environment as part of a panel for the Orlando Sentinel’s 150th anniversary commemorations.
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Leadership from several environmental groups, including the Florida chapter of the Audubon Society, met in Orlando at the 4Roots Farm, run by John Rivers, who is also the founder of the 4 Rivers Smokehouse restaurant chain.
One topic discussed was how to support Florida’s farmers and ranchers amid development pressures, a task Rivers said is especially important given that 152 farms close in the United States each week.
“Buy local. Behind every produce is a farm, behind every farm is a farmer, is a family,” Rivers said. “And it’s a family that if we have the opportunity to support it, they take care of our ecosystem and our own health.”
Kim Dinkins, a director for the 1000 Friends of Florida group, said it’s important to hold developers accountable and prevent overdevelopment.
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“Not every property needs to be developed to its maximum potential. We need to be taking care of the ecosystems and the environment that’s in them,” Dinkins said. “We have the right to enjoy our property, but that doesn’t mean that we get to chop it up into little pieces and put tens of thousands of homes on it.”
Flooding that impacted Central Florida in recent years can be tied in part of overdevelopment, some said.
Julie Wraithmell, vice president and executive director of Audubon Florida, said regulatory reform will be key to address many environmental issues, including flooding, given that Florida’s environmental safety regulations, which also protect consumers, have remained unchanged for decades despite the state’s massive population increase and new scientific discoveries.
“The flooding that we saw…their homes are in vulnerable locations…government has a responsibility to help protect consumers in that way too,” she said. “There are ways that we can do things smarter in Florida that will have lasting benefits, not just for us, but for future generations too.”
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