The restoration of the Everglades is an ongoing effort to remedy damage
inflicted on the environment of southern Florida during the 20th
century. As of 2009, it is the most expensive and comprehensive
environmental repair attempt in history. The degradation of the
Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s
after a proposal to construct a jetport in the Big Cypress Swamp.
Studies indicated the jetport would have destroyed the ecosystem in
South Florida and Everglades National Park. After decades of
destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for
ways to balance the needs of the natural environment in South Florida
with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly
grown in the Everglades. When high levels of phosphorus and mercury
were discovered in these waterways in 1986, water quality became a
focus for water management agencies. Costly and lengthy court battles
were waged between various government entities to determine who was
responsible for monitoring and enforcing water quality standards. A
strategy called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was
attached to restore portions of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the
Caloosahatchee River, and Florida Bay to undo the damage of the past
50 years. It would take 30 years and cost $7.8 billion to complete.
Though the plan was passed into law in 2000, it has been compromised by
politics and funding problems.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Everglades>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1541:
The expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto became the
first documented Europeans to reach the Mississippi River.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto>
1794:
The Reign of Terror: Branded a traitor, French chemist and economist
Antoine Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme
Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier>
1886:
In Atlanta, Georgia, American pharmacist John Pemberton first sold his
carbonated beverage Coca-Cola as a patent medicine, claiming that it
cured a number of diseases.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola>
1945:
Most armed forces under German control ceased active operations by
23:01 CET at the end of World War II in Europe, in accordance with the
German Instrument of Surrender signed by General Alfred Jodl on behalf
of Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz the day before.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/end_of_World_War_II_in_Europe>
1963:
Soldiers of the Catholic South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem open
fire on Buddhists who were defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist
flag on Vesak, killing nine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hue_Vesak_shootings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
polyptoton (n):
A stylistic scheme in which words from the same root are used together,
or a word is repeated in a different inflection or case
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/polyptoton>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will
be beneficial is not freedom.
--Friedrich Hayek
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek>
Show replies by date