Connie Washburn

Partial Transcript: I’m Connie Washburn. I’ve lived in South Florida for over 40 years. And I am a retired schoolteacher of 35 years. Uh I became extremely interested in the Everglades when I taught about it. And before I taught about it, I had to learn about it. And I taught children as a natural part of their fourth grade curriculum about the Everglades. We went on field trips out there. We went camping out there. Um. We studied it and learned all kinds of wonderful things about it, and we got very protective -- the children got very protective of the Everglades. And there was a proposal for a theme park to be built in the Everglades. And they started writing letters to people and they started a real, little campaign that started locally. And this organization called Friends of the Everglades - um - contacted us and said, “Who are you?” (laughter) And I said these are children who are interested in protecting the Everglades. They’re quite adamant about it. And they would love to be known as Young Friends of the Everglades. And they really liked that idea.
And so my relation with Marjorie is, um the other teacher and I, her name is Marta Whitehouse, and she was a fifth grade teacher. I was a fourth grade teacher at Howard Drive Elementary. And she, um, we asked the powers that be -- the board members -- of Friends of the Everglades if we could meet Marjorie and ask for her blessing on our new little group. And so we did. We went to her little beautiful, little house in Coconut Grove. And we met with her, and we explained what we’re doing and she said, “This is the only way to save the Everglades, is educate the public.” And she said, “And especially children.” So that they can grow up and work to try to save the Everglades. So she gave us our blessing, but she did say, “But tell the children the Everglades are not saved yet” because they would do things like thank her for saving the Everglades. She said, “The Everglades are not saved yet.” And that was back in the early 90’s.

And of course a lot has happened since then to cause problems for the Everglades -- a lot. Um so we started Young Friends of the Everglades. It was Howard Drive Elementary on her 105th birthday. Every child in the school -- over 400 children -- made an individual card or note or whatever to Marjorie. We put it on a big poster board and we took it over to her and we attended her birthday party -- Marta and I did. And a few children. And uh so that is how I met and began my admiration of this incredible woman who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

Partial Transcript: So the Everglades is very unique. Uh Marjorie -- It’s unique because of its latitude. That particular piece of land or anyplace else in the world, it could possibly be a desert because we have all this water on both sides of the peninsula where the Everglades is and so that water cycle, the water evaporates. It rolls up over the Everglades. It feeds you know it rains over the Everglades and um the Everglades in addition is because of the water filtered by the Everglades going down to the aquifer is basically uh clean drinking water for now over 7 million people. And uh of course, it feeds -- it helps to feed a healthy bay. Uh unfortunately, uh that was then and this is now. And we have massive problems. Uh the Everglades has massive problems because of the polluted water full of nutrients that comes from Lake Okeechobee, some of it going into the Everglades directly, without being held in a reservoir. Some of it going to both coasts by rivers. Currently this minute we have an exceptional red tide over on the west coast that has killed an inordinate amount of sea life, uh causing people actually who are on vacation there to flee from their hotels and um go away from the seaside. On the east coast, up north, uh kind of in Central Florida around Stuart and so forth, uh we have what is called green algae sludge, which is extremely toxic. And uh it’s not a matter of people drinking it. It’s a matter of people can’t even shower with that water. In fact, the clean up crews that clean up the green algae toxic sludge uh have to wear complete suits and mask and so forth to be able to get that close. So it is a huge problem. Friends of the Everglades, which is Marjorie’s group, works very hard to fight against the causes of that. Offer alternatives. In fact, the people of Florida have voted by 85% to make the polluter pay for the dirty water and somehow that never quite happens. And it’s very sad.

Partial Transcript: It was just about double of the size. The Everglades was double the size that it is today. And why is that? It is because of encroachment from city life moving towards the Everglades from both coasts. And, in fact, you know, people have joked -- and it’s a very sad joke -- that you’re gonna go from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers by a much smaller space. Also by pollution. Um by not recognizing the value of it and uh protecting these places -- Everglades National Park, the Greater Everglades, Big Cypress -- all of those areas must be protected. In fact, that is how Marjorie started Friends of the Everglades. She was in opposition to a proposed jet port in Big Cypress. And us she would talk to anybody who listened to her. If two people were standing on a corner, and they wanted to hear about the Everglades, she would stop and talk to them. She went to PTA meetings and in addition she went up to Tallahassee and spoke before the legislature numerous times. Um and so in 1969, a young friend of hers, in fact, Mike Chenoweth and Joe Browder, went up to Marjorie and they said, “You should start a club.” She said, “Me, start a club. What do you mean?” And they said, “You should start a club to protect the Everglades and you should call it Friends of the Everglades and I’ll be your first member, and here is a dollar for my membership fee.”

And for years Friends of the Everglades membership fee was a dollar. And so it is a non-profit that was founded by Marjorie in 1969 and has fought many battles since. We’re small but mighty. We’re a definite David and Goliath situation because it’s the government. Its other large, environmental groups that don’t quite carry the hard line that we carry. We want things done right, and done right well. And um we’re Marjorie’s group, and we are very willing to litigate if need be. Um

Partial Transcript: Well the problem with going ahead and draining the swamp, and very interestingly enough Marjorie was always saying the Everglades is not a worthless swamp. It is a very valuable ecosystem with over 3,000 species of plants and animals. Many of which are endangered. Uh it is as I mentioned earlier the source of drinking water for 7 million people now and in five years from now it could be 9 million people. And so when there is a proposal to extend the 836 out into the Everglades so it will alleviate traffic, that is not the way to alleviate traffic. It just makes more traffic. Um the places in the Everglades where various building companies and so forth have wanted to build over the last 30-40 years are places that must be protected because the Everglades is currently 50% of the amount it was to begin with. And so it’s a lose/lose situation to encroach upon the Everglades and to pollute the water. And this has other uh we can talk about hurricanes, sea level rise, um salt water intrusion. All of those things are helped and improved by having a healthy ecosystem in the Everglades.

Partial Transcript: Well, uh, yes, it has Florida is the land of boom and bust, but what really started the real development of South Florida is when uh Julia Tuttle sent an orange blossom to Henry Flagler and said, “Henry, you just had a big freeze in West Palm Beach and all of your citrus crops there are ruined and I sent you an orange blossom to show you down here in the Miami area, in the extreme south Florida, we did not get that freeze. Our citrus crop is doing just fine and you really ought to think of extending your railroad down here.” Well, once that was done, that opened the gateway because, actually, up until that time, to come to South Florida, I mean you didn’t come by covered wagon like people went out west. Most people came by boat that was uh docked in the harbor of Coconut Grove, and they ferried their stuff in and they began back there. You know, back in that area at that time and there was a time, certainly, when people up north were actually trying to sell plots of land that were under water in the Everglades or un-buildable and that’s a whole different story. Uh but it was, in my opinion, it was because of the railroad giving access to a lot of people, a lot of supplies, and so forth, that turned this place around.

And then the other thing that made a big difference was the invention of air conditioning. That was invented here in Florida and that made a huge difference with people. You know what, I hope I’m not sitting in a red ant pile.

Partial Transcript: Who will I talk about? Um Nat Reed, uh, Nat Reed always fought for the Everglades and the environment. And he just recently passed and that was a big loss. Um Joe Browder uh who later moved to Washington, used to be on the board of Friends of the Everglades and uh there are many, many heroes today. Um Alan Forago, who is um a board member of Friends. Richard Grosso, uh who is with the law justice and works on many battles for the Everglades. Those are people of today and of course so many people along the way.

Partial Transcript: Marjorie was always a fighter. She didn’t just start fighting to protect the Everglades. That was one of her many projects. But the one that she actually started uh in her late 60’s, I believe, maybe early 70’s. Uh fortunately, she had a very long life -- until 108 --and she was extremely active uh until late in life. Uh she um (lost my train of thought). Oh, in Marjorie’s early years, and she wasn’t born in Florida. She came down here when she was in her 20’s to become a reporter for the Herald. And her first position with the Herald was the society page because she was a woman. It did help that her father was the editor of the Miami Herald. Uh but Marjorie, if she saw an injustice, and felt strongly about it, she would work to improve the situation. Uh she did live in Coconut Grove, and at that time, Coconut Grove was very segregated, really. And there was an area where poorer people lived, and they had no means of sanitation. And she is the one who worked to make that happen. Uh she also worked very hard on a very important thing, which is women’s suffrage. And she marched right up with a bunch of women to Tallahassee. She sat there and lectured those legislators and uh they didn’t pay any attention to her but we did get the vote in Florida after, you know, as a result of her being up there. She has chastised more than one political leader during her day. And she was very small, very tiny lady, with her big floppy hat, but she was very forceful in what she said, because 1) she knew what she was talking about and she was extremely articulate. Uh in fact, she won some award for elocution when she attended college so uh people would listen to her. That was one thing. The other thing is she wouldn’t give up and she absolutely wouldn’t give up. Uh and what is happening right now today with the politics of the Everglades was something she wanted in the first place back many years ago. She died in 1998. So that’s how many years that uh we have continued to talk about this.
Meanwhile when we talk about reservoirs to hold the water, to clean it up before it is put into the Everglades or the rivers going east and west, um before that when it originally started being fought for, the population was much less than it is now. So all of these problems, all these pollution problems are just aggravated. (asked to repeat) Because of the population change and the roads and all of the places that are paved over, all of those pollution problems have increased dramatically since the time that she was fighting for them and Friends of the Everglades was fighting for those causes years ago. Since 1969, we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary on her birthday, April 7th, in 2019.

Partial Transcript: Marjorie was asked to write a book about rivers. And she said, “What do I know about rivers?” And um but she took the writing opportunity and she wrote about a river very near and dear to her and, of course, she called the Everglades a river of grass. And if you know anything about the biology of the Everglades, it’s a very shallow, slow-moving stream that goes from Lake Okeechobee and actually waters above that all the way down to Florida Bay. And so it truly is a river and she is the one that named it the River of Grass. Wrote a book that is called River of Grass - The Everglades. And that is actually that book is what brought attention -- worldwide attention -- to the Everglades and its importance plus it is a beautifully written book that not only tells about the biology and fauna and flora of the Everglades and importance, but it’s a beautiful history of South Florida as well.

Partial Transcript: Marjorie understood the science of the Everglades and how important it is to our whole climate here and biology of South Florida. And so and she loved the Everglades, and she used to go out and picnic in the Everglades. She was very close to the Miccosukee Indians, and um she -- they spent a lot of time taking her around the Everglades in their dugouts. And uh she truly loved the Everglades. There have been other groups. Interestingly on that, mostly ladies’ groups. For example, um there was a group of ladies that was um aghast at how the uh snowy egret was being killed en masse and uh birds dropping out of the trees, dropping out of their nests so that ladies up north could wear fancy hats, or all over could wear fancy hats with plumes in them. People did these things innocently -- not thinking of the consequences, but these women saw it. And they uh finally they were part of the group that got this particular thing outlawed. Marjorie was interested in the overall picture of the Everglades uh and its huge importance to South Florida and the world. So she is quoted as saying, “If we can save the Everglades, we just may be able to save the planet.” She actually did not say that originally, but she certainly said it many times afterward. And it’s a beautiful quote because it really tells the importance of the Everglades.

Partial Transcript: Everglades National Park uh is, for example, in part of the Everglades. Part of the greater Everglades, and it is one of the few national parks in this country where there are no beautiful mountains, there are no beautiful lakes to look at. Its very subtle. The beauty there is very subtle. But what is not subtle is the importance of the Everglades uh to a healthy South Florida. And um so there have been many battles along the way about trying to pave over the Everglades. For example, a Walmart that is proposed to be built on the edge of the Everglades instead of it being natural in that area. That’s huge. That has huge ramifications. So actually the Everglades, in my opinion, is kind of a barometer of the ecological health of South Florida. And so that is why groups like ours, and Sierra Club, Audubon and so forth are always in the fight. We’re always down at the city commission objecting um to the line being -- there’s a traditional boundary line uh between the city and the Everglades and we get done fighting one group and the next one pops up. So there’s always a constant battle. The one that we’re in right now is the nutrients, the pollution from agriculture, mainly -- big sugar -- that they are the polluter and 75% some number don’t hold me to it of Floridians voted that the polluter should pay for the clean-up, which makes perfect sense to me.

Partial Transcript: She left Friends of the Everglades, which, as I’ve said (DW interjects: give some context to that) OK. Friends of the Everglades was a non-profit that she founded in 1969 quite, you know, unceremoniously. And then they went ahead and they got a non-profit certificate from the state and all of that. Um she works -- our group, which is a legacy of her, worked with many other environmental groups but, if we don’t like what they’re doing. If we think they’ve caved, or whatever, we stand up, just like Marjorie did. Um We’re not willing to settle, so that is certainly a legacy. Um When uh I told you that the other teacher and I, Marta and I, went over to speak with Marjorie about uh approving of our children’s environmental group, Young Friends of the Everglades, and she said, “Oh, by all means, take the children out into the Everglades.” and so forth. We had after that we had a 20-year program with a grant from the county uh where we went into, or people who were hired by us, went in and gave an educational program to fourth graders. All over Miami Dade County. Uh I think over 150,000 were educated by the time the you know our program ended. And it ended because of lack of funding. Um but I was very involved in that program and there are young people today who I know, I literally know that they are fighters for the environment. There are a lot of young people in that group of Young Friends of the Everglades who’ve gone on to do ecological work. And uh make that their priority in life so uh I think she definitely is um the person who really got the ball moving as far as protecting the Everglades.

Partial Transcript: Well, interestingly enough, um the students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, and we’ve written that to them, have the same kind of tenacity in not taking “no” for an answer uh as in regard to gun reform. And we often, that’s the first thing I said when they started to speak. I said, 1) they really know what they’re talking about. They are passionate and they are extremely articulate. And that’s exactly what Marjorie does. And so um we haven’t really directly contacted them to talk about: did you know that your namesake of your school is just like you are and would be very -- we’ve posted some things on Facebook about that. There was - we had a post where Marjorie was speaking to a group and she said, “Always be a nuisance. And never, never, never give up.”

Partial Transcript: South Florida would not be South Florida without it. Actually, South Florida would be a desert without it. If they literally went out and paved between Miami and Naples -- all the way -- we would have a desert-type climate here, possibly, or who knows what else. We would also not have available drinking water. Um and talking about paving, of course, the Tamiami Trail that runs from Miami up to Tampa and right smack through the Everglades was just over the last few years elevated. Uh a mile of it was elevated and now they’re starting on Stage 2. Why was it elevated? So the natural the natural flow of the water could flow down and do what the Everglades is supposed to do, which is to clean the water before it goes down into the aquifers, out to the bay. (airplane interruption) So this road that they have elevated now at a great deal of cost is um elevated simply to let the water go through naturally. Um there was uh a river that the army corps of engineers straightened before it went into Lake Okeechobee and, of course, what that did is just send all the nutrients and pollutants and silt down faster and then they spent millions of dollars to make it crooked again. So uh why we don’t learn from our mistakes, I don’t know but, in my opinion, a great deal of it has to do with a thing called greed.