These photos, from Florida Wildlife Federation, tell the long and sad story of "shifting baselines" in Florida. Any one of our Miami readers--if they have the opportunity--can put on a face mask and snorkel in Biscayne Bay and see the same result. A few weeks ago, I showed you how this looks in the Florida Keys.
What are shifting baselines? Here are a few more examples.
There was a chance to protect our "baselines" many decades ago when experts began shouting about the costs of unlimited growth. Their voices were drowned out by the Chambers of Commerce, the builders, developers, Big Ag and their army of consultants and lawyers and lobbyists.
Here is how I define shifting baselines: over time, and in the absence of laws and regulations strong enough to protect the public commons, the quality of what we value changes hue until, after a period of time, the very soul of what we value transmorgrifies into something indescribable-- and finally, we are persuaded that the original color did not exist and that its disappearance is of no consequence.
And so shifting baselines is not only about the environment. It is about the step-by-step transformation of democracy because the rules of engagement in political elections are weighted toward accepting shifting baselines as a de facto standard.
That is what the pictures show.
5 comments:
:( very sad
another example of the golden rule
The degradation of Weeki Wachee Springs was foretold by opponents to the construction of a cement plant just a few miles away and the widespread use of deep-well injection of treated sewage effluent. Proponents of both, naturally, said there would be no impact on the Floridan Aquifer, of which Weeki Wachee is a part.
Stop Gimleteye stop...
where are my blinders when I need them? That last photo was like looking directly into the bird's eye that lies dead on the road. I can't look at roadkill but I couldn't look away from that photo because it was unexpected. UGH....what are we doing to the planet?
Shifting baselines.. that is a way to get around just about everything.
These photos are an excellent series exhibiting the problem of shifting baselines--a concept so important that it has even has a blog of its own. A blogpost was posted there on this post, as are a number of other examples of the shifting baselines phenomenon.
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