Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Everglades Coalition: missing the boat on the best angle of attack against Big Sugar? ... by gimleteye

This week the annual meeting of the Everglades Coalition convenes in Coral Gables at the Biltmore Hotel. It is an annual migration of all the "stakeholders" concerned with both the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem and the massive taxpayer investments that optimistically aim to restore water quality, quantity, and wrecked natural habitats.

I have long been perplexed why the environmentalists involved with the Everglades have not seized on the glaring weakness of its principal adversary: Big Sugar. That would be the simple fact that sugar is at the heart of America's health care nightmare; wrapping up processed food with illness, disease and its trillion dollar costs.

For example, why aren't panel discussions dedicated to the health care emergency caused by the sugar disaster? By linking the constituents for a healthy America with constituents for a healthy Everglades, eyes would be opened. Clearly linking Florida's sugar industry with the health care disaster would put pressure on Congress and the White House that continue to support subsidies in the Farm Bill for an industry that is so destructive on so many fronts.

Dr. Robert Lustig, the nation's most prominent voice and lecturer: "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" would be a key note speaker for the Everglades Coalition. Lustig appeared on NPR's Diane Rehm Show recently, talking about his book, "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease." Let the Big Sugar Billionaires, process that ...

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