Mother Earth Sustaining Wounds—Shall Her Cry Be Heard…

Lighted cigarette butts, beer bottles, cans, fast food debris and fecal ridden diapers tossed from vehicles traveling along US1 has significantly increased since the construction of the new Jewfish Creek Bridge in Key Largo.

Combined with the present epidemic of noise pollution, along with the exhaust and engine contaminates discharged from every make and model of land and watercraft; what was once paradise, is slipping away from us.

Each day that these toxins are discharged into the fabric of our fragile aquatic ecosystem, our planet is less able to sustain itself.

The county has done its very best to stay ahead of the onslaught of trash that is regularly tossed along the US1 corridor. The county staff has been diligent in their determination to combat the littering of our highway. Unfortunately, they are no match for the hordes of travelers that swarm towards our homes throughout the year.

Bicyclist, motorcycle and pedestrian casualties have dramatically increased. Near misses, knock downs and brush offs, without any law enforcement involvement, occur every day.

Many of our so-called advancements have had an adversarial impact upon the lives of residents, who have their one and only home in the Keys. These citizens traverse the only major road that we have to go to work, shop for their families, go to their second jobs and involve themselves in charitable work for their community.

Many businesses, developers and contractors have pursued the fruits of denser and expanded development. Their myopic pursuit of the almighty dollar has systematically denigrated the attractiveness of the very environment that they market. Obtuse and self-defeating, after they malign and tear up everything that can be torn up for the sake of money, they will move on, scarifying anything else that gets in their way.

In the not too distant past, we have seen members of our county commission complicit in this type of over-development. Let’s be clear, this is not reflected in the present composition of the commission, nor in their extraordinary staff.

Criminals do nasty things. Approximately 4.5 trillion filters from spent cigarettes make their way into the environment every year. Individuals continue to litter our islands with lit butts that have caused fires, property damage and death. Enforcing the law regarding these types of violations would be a giant step towards safeguarding life and property. It will add cash to the government’s coffers, thus easing the burden on our taxpayers.

Scientists at San Diego State University have determined that a single cigarette butt with a small amount of unburnt tobacco clinging to it, soaked in a liter of water for one day, will kill 50% of the fish swimming in it. Each butt tossed into the ocean is a miniature vial of poison. Yet we have seen the proliferation of this behavior go unpunished, with few consequences.

From my perspective, the integrity, credibility and honor exuded by our sheriff and his department are beyond reproach. As a civilian, I have my own ideas on how I would rid the Keys of these problems. A ‘task force’ with a unified emphasis on extinguishing these violations, would get the word out in a clear and convincing manner, letting potential offenders know that these types of crimes are taken seriously.

It’s my hope that Sheriff Rick Ramsay would develop and lead a consortium of law enforcement agencies that would extirpate these crimes with a multifaceted technique. I emphatically trust and respect the sheriff’s judgment. I know that he has taken a lot of his own personal time to clean and restore some of the most damaged locations in the county.

As I write this column, I’m drawn to the front page of ‘The Citizen’ where there is a picture of Sheriff Ramsay in uniform, being thanked by a resident for cleaning up a heavily littered ‘trouble spot’; and continuing to maintain it through enforcement. Also, as I rode through Key Largo today there appeared to be a ‘volunteer civilian force’ scouring US1 of all its trash and debris. These volunteers performed brilliantly. Their monumental effort was magnificent.

Why do we have to wait for individuals to toss their garbage on our roads and in our communities, before we take action? Why not address this criminal conduct at its point of contact, with the perpetrator of the offense?

Realistic action must be taken immediately, if we are to ward off the destructive intrusions that are chronically impacting our islands. If each one of us stands and steps forward, a critical mass will be realized, insuring our survival, as we are catapulted toward the restorative love of our Mother.