Let’s start by what they don’t have in common: sugar and pythons, gold and mercury, and oil pollution, respectively. Florida and Alaska have current legislation and the Amazon River is the subject of civil litigation.
Although Alaska may be exploited for oil like the Amazon, the current legislation allows the gold mines to break a 40 year moratorium to reopen mines and pump waste into pristine water bodies. While Florida has been changing the infrastructure of the everglades with man made waterways and phosphate runoff from sugar farms and cattle ranches for generations, not to mention pesticides The Everglades seem to be the continual source of litigation and legislation. The current legislation to hunt and destroy the mighty and teeny pythons was proposed by Senator Nelson in a hurry before one gets its next victim, perhaps an Everglades tourist.
The recent toddler’s death by pet python prompted legislators to act. Senators Nelson and Rooney proposed legislation with the approval of the US Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar according to csmonitor.com. The local news, wpbf.com, reported that Governor Crist and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission gathered 5 of 20 known professional trappers starting the permitted "python posse," who quickly captured a Burmese python over 9.5 feet. Permit holders must keep photographic records of location and the FWC intends to investigate the stomach contents. There are an estimated 100000 exotic pythons in the Everglades.
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The renewed Alaskan mining production won by Coeur d'Alene Mine Company in the U.S. Supreme Court will be the antithesis to the lakes and other water bodies and estuaries it dumps its sludge waste into killing all the native fish threatening one million acres beginning with the 23 acre Lower Slate Lake. The remedy? Restocking! That is not settling as well as the sludge will. The Petitioners at Care2, thepetitionsite, are urging you to contact the same US Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar that wants to keep the Everglades in eco balance. Florida and Alaska, two extreme opposite ends of the country, going in opposite eco directions. Florida may never be restored, slowing further depredation must not stop; but destroying Alaska in the name of recession is like cutting off the head (AK) to spite the tail (FL).
And then there's Ecuador’s oil-producing Amazonian rainforest case against Chevron, CVS, who claims innocence in destroying what would be the largest ever settlement to the tune of $27 billion. There will be no guilt for years, even decades, when the U.S. courts get tangled the demise; yet Chevron says it is not stalling. As the axiom goes, you can not get blood from a stone, or a huge boulder; the giant Chevron assures shareholder it will not be accountable for Texaco’s pollution even though Chevron bought Texico in 2001; yet Chevron conducted a token $40 million cleanup in the 1990's claiming that resolved the any liability. The stakes are called high, but $27 billion is a mere “tenth of one year’s revenue" for the fourth largest oil conglomerate. Read more about Chevron by Ben Casselman from the Wall Street. Journal.
The answer to the question is, of course, greed $ money. Florida may be destroyed by it; Alaska and the amazon rain forest are on their way. In other words, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Who is going to pay for the cleanup and restoration?
If you like this story see more on Alaska Supreme Court Decision here.
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