Hopelessly Grotesque Earth

I found the image above when searching for an appropriate one for Tary's woods. I know the kind of place she talks about. I grew up in Florida before the days of over-development and the trickle in economy.

There were palmettos and oak trees, pines and wild magnolias and scrub enough to fill a void, landscape a paradise. White and black sand paths wended their ways through palmetto stands and huckleberry bushes vied for sun light alongside paw-paw shrubs.

The image above is from Edward King, 1848 to 1896 and James Wells Champney, 1843-1903. They called it: : "Some Tract of Hoplessly irreclaimable, Grotesque Water Wilderness of Florida". Really. Seems like the archaic macho bit of dominion over the Earth is still alive and kicking in Florida.

I call it bullshit. But it is still the prevailing train of thought for developers for the state of Florida. Our lands, like many in other states is being over-developed and overrun by an influx of refugees from other countries and other states. They gather here for the weather.

The result is a diminishing habitat for the indigenous wildlife and sinkholes as the water table is sucked dry in the northern part of the state to supply the southern part of the state with potable water.

Another symptom of the overpopulation is the destruction and encroachment into the Everglades - a natural weather buffer for hurricanes in the state of Florida.

Scientists have predicted a several foot rise in the sea level due to global warming. So come on down from whereever. Float in from Cuba and Haiti. Run the fence from Mexico and South America, all you would be new Floridians. Flush your toilets. Shower. Cook. Pave your bit of Florida Earth. Shit. Have kids. We will swim and drown together.

When the last gopher tortoise and the last Florida Panther and the last Florida Brown Bear and wild turkey and boar and red fox have succumbed to loss of habitat, we can salute each other on a job well done of developing the state. i'll be on my inner tube.