On Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, hundreds of thousands of viewers are sharing photos, videos, and terse observations of the massive destruction being caused by the release of hundreds of billions of filthy water from Lake Okeechobee -- thanks to Big Sugar's control of the Florida legislature and Congress.
Historic January rains in Florida has turned into a flood on social media. It is becoming clear there is a very large audience for information how a few billionaires are holding the entire state hostage to profit schemes based on shifting their pollution onto the backs of taxpayers; in this case, wrecking billions of dollars of coastal real estate and tourism-based businesses to keep sugar fields dry.
These are not a few hundred people. Social media, in the weeks before the March presidential primaries, are engaging it's hundreds of thousands of viewers who will vote.
This video by fishing guide Michael Conner has been viewed on Facebook nearly 300,000 times:
And it's not just the east coast of Florida that is affected. Big Sugar has always relied on the geographic separation of the Gulf from the Atlantic to keep its Florida critics divided.
Through social media, the rampant abuse by polluters is linking outraged citizens the west coast with their counterparts on the east coast.
On Wednesday, Democratic leader Mark Pafford demonstrated the intransigence of the GOP-controlled legislature, determined to block state purchases of land from Big Sugar south of Lake Okeechobee that could eventually solve the pollution crisis. Even Republican elected leaders from the most polluted regions of the state-- like Senator Joe Negron -- ignored and allowed Pafford's bill to die.
The bill would have allocated moneys to buy lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area, south of Lake Okeechobee for storage marshes adequate to hold and cleanse sugar's filthy discharges.
Not even a 2014 constitutional amendment, approved by more than 75 percent of Florida voters, for land acquisition has swayed legislators to fixing the Lake Okeechobee disaster. If the legislature won't expose the rotten heart of Tallahassee, social media will do the job: showing graphic images how Big Sugar billionaires fertilize the Republican majority just like sulfates from its half million acres using drainage canals like sewage pipes.
The flood on social media targeting Big Sugar is skipping past print journalism, OPEDs carefully crafted to avoid antagonizing its advertisers, and is even vaulting beyond environmental groups.
It will take a political revolution to fix what is wrong with Florida. That could happen if those hundreds of thousands on social media gather millions and turn anger against Big Sugar into votes. When people lead, leaders follow.
Historic January rains in Florida has turned into a flood on social media. It is becoming clear there is a very large audience for information how a few billionaires are holding the entire state hostage to profit schemes based on shifting their pollution onto the backs of taxpayers; in this case, wrecking billions of dollars of coastal real estate and tourism-based businesses to keep sugar fields dry.
These are not a few hundred people. Social media, in the weeks before the March presidential primaries, are engaging it's hundreds of thousands of viewers who will vote.
This video by fishing guide Michael Conner has been viewed on Facebook nearly 300,000 times:
And it's not just the east coast of Florida that is affected. Big Sugar has always relied on the geographic separation of the Gulf from the Atlantic to keep its Florida critics divided.
Through social media, the rampant abuse by polluters is linking outraged citizens the west coast with their counterparts on the east coast.
On Wednesday, Democratic leader Mark Pafford demonstrated the intransigence of the GOP-controlled legislature, determined to block state purchases of land from Big Sugar south of Lake Okeechobee that could eventually solve the pollution crisis. Even Republican elected leaders from the most polluted regions of the state-- like Senator Joe Negron -- ignored and allowed Pafford's bill to die.
The bill would have allocated moneys to buy lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area, south of Lake Okeechobee for storage marshes adequate to hold and cleanse sugar's filthy discharges.
Not even a 2014 constitutional amendment, approved by more than 75 percent of Florida voters, for land acquisition has swayed legislators to fixing the Lake Okeechobee disaster. If the legislature won't expose the rotten heart of Tallahassee, social media will do the job: showing graphic images how Big Sugar billionaires fertilize the Republican majority just like sulfates from its half million acres using drainage canals like sewage pipes.
The flood on social media targeting Big Sugar is skipping past print journalism, OPEDs carefully crafted to avoid antagonizing its advertisers, and is even vaulting beyond environmental groups.
It will take a political revolution to fix what is wrong with Florida. That could happen if those hundreds of thousands on social media gather millions and turn anger against Big Sugar into votes. When people lead, leaders follow.
2 comments:
'The Franjul Fool'-Marco Roboto.
Great to see all the coverage this issue is getting on social media. It's definitely gaining awareness just need people to show up at the protests and start pounding the politicians who aren't behind us.
Post a Comment