"Paving Paradise: Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss" by St. Pete Times' journalists Craig Pittman (Author), Matthew Waite (Author) is about to be released. It's a book I've been waiting for.
Only a few newspapers raised a skeptical eye at the outrageous excess of the housing asset bubble, now crashed, while it was occurring. Notably, South Florida's main newspapers were absent. The Herald continues to publish excellent investigative series on the fallout of the housing implosion, but notably fails to connect for readers the political origins of the worst economic crisis since the Depression; a crisis whose flip side is the deterioration of the environment and quality of life that made Florida attractive in the first place.
The Times' 2006 series, co-authored by Pittman with Matthew Waite, "Florida's Vanishing Wetlands" was the most devastating indictment of the growth-at-any-cost policies that rule Florida to appear in any newspaper before or since. Read it yourself and understand the difference between a newspaper owned by a foundation (The Times) and newspapers owned by corporations (The Herald) that pay lip service to the "fire wall" between publishers, executives and real estate advertisers and their lobbyists. You can pre-order Pittman and Waite's book at Books and Books in Coral Gables.
... click 'read more'.
The Review at Amazon says: "This is an exhaustive, timely, and devastating account of the destruction of Florida's wetlands and the disgraceful collusion of government at all levels. It's an important book that should be read by every voter, every taxpayer, every parent, every Floridian who cares about saving what's left of this precious place." - Carl Hiaasen "Pittman and Waite pulled the lid off federal and state wetlands regulation in Florida and peered deep into the cauldron of 'mitigation,' 'no net loss,' 'banking,' and the rest of the regulatory stew. This is an eye-opening, must-read book." - J. B. Ruhl"
Florida possesses more wetlands than any other state except Alaska, yet since 1990 more than 84,000 acres have been lost to development despite presidential pledges to protect them. How and why the state's wetlands are continuing to disappear is the subject of "Paving Paradise". Journalists Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite spent nearly four years investigating the political expedience, corruption, and negligence on the part of federal and state agencies that led to a failure to enforce regulations on developers. They traveled throughout the state, interviewed hundreds of people, dug through thousands of documents, and analyzed satellite imagery to identify former wetlands that were now houses, stores, and parking lots. Exposing the unseen environmental consequences of rampant sprawl, Pittman and Waite explain how wetland protection creates the illusion of environmental protection while doing little to stem the tide of destruction. What is happening to Florida's 'protected' wetlands?
No comments:
Post a Comment