Improving Human Impacts & Protection: What Can We Do?

      Currently, the Everglades is about fifty percent of its original size due to encroaching agricultural use and residential development. In order to combat the Everglades shrinking size, the federal and state government should pass legislation to limit this development in the Everglades and the immediate surrounding areas. Large-scale government sponsored projects funded by taxes and donations, such as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), can help to prevent negative human impacts. Water conservation on a local level can lessen water diversion allow natural water flow throughout the ecosystem. Farmers in the surrounding area can switch to integrated pest management or low toxicity pesticides and forgo heavy pesticide and synthetic fertilizer use, which negatively affect water quality. The federal and Florida state government could provide financial incentives such as subsidies for natural fertilizers or tax breaks for farms with high water quality tests.  The government could also provide tax breaks to citizens who donate money to the Everglades National Park or nonprofit Everglade restoration organizations. Residents in the surrounding areas could support local, organic agriculture that don’t release synthetic pollutants into the water stream and don’t encroach on the Everglade ecosystem (5&6).