PART II: How my love of all things related to Florida's beautiful coastline has made me a fierce and determined fighter against Offshore Oil Drilling in Florida and how this relates to my love of bike riding.
For as long as I remember bike riding, originally in my birth state and original home state of Florida, I also remember being accutely aware of how fragile the eco-system of Florida especially along it's Gulf Coast, Atlantic Coast, beaches, waterways, bays, estuaries and marshes could be. Indeed much of what attracts Northerners to Florida is greatly tied into it's huge amount of water that surrounds it and also in it's interior. Florida's water is also a sustaining source of both beauty of wildlife birds, manatees, and other unique sea creatures and life sustaining, for many of us humans, seafood.
But I was raised in a family that always taught me to appreciate the natural environment and continued to always have that as one of the most important aspects of my life. And this was even more reinforced being from Florida and seeing through my first 31 years of life and for a brief time last year, 2010, because I am always reminded how fragile that beautiful natural environment of the state I'm proud to call my birth state can be if we are not good environmental stewards.
How does this relate to bike riding? Well, think about it. I don't know how many of my readers have ever ridden a bike in Florida, especially around it's beaches and waterways -- but let me tell you, if you don't know, one of the most amazing experiences is to ride a bike along Florida's shores! I've done so, and I was always amazed at the beauty I saw, and then became as well how fragile that beauty can be. There were three times in my life that that was never so more true, the main part of this part of the three parts is about one of those times and another time of empowerment opportunity given to me to hopefully make sure that beauty is not taken away from us.
I think first I'd like to just take a moment to just state a few of things that influenced me culturally to take the time to think about the issue of protecting the environment especially in Florida. I still remember reading books, not always just about Florida, such as Rachel Carson's "The Silent Spring", Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' "The Yearling", Margaret Stoneman Douglas' "River Of Grass" and "Save The Everglades" and James A. Michener's "Centennial" (the last of which, as my mom who grew up in that era and in that part of the country attests is a true representation of what transpired countless times during the Dust Bowl in the center of the country during the Great Depression.) But all of those books made me very aware of the fragile nature of the environment if we were not good environmental stewards. Another influence of mine was the music I grew up with including, but not limited too, Arlo Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and countless other songs written and performed afterwards about the fragileness of the environment. But one song in particular, that was a hit while I was a young child, strikes a particular chord in me about trying to do as much as possible to save a fragile environment such as in Florida because when it was a hit it was during a time in the early 1970's when me and others in the Tampa Bay area had to witness huge problems from smells and fish kills from a phenomenon known as Red Tide. Although Red Tide is not always caused by problems of an oil spill the affects are not too dissimiliar.
Here is a Wikipedia article on the phenomenon Red Tide (although I doubt that anyone who hasn't experienced this phenomenon first hand can truely appreciate what harm it can cause to an eco-system):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tide
The name of that song that was a hit during the time of Red Tide, in the Tampa Bay area in the early 1970's that nearly choked me and choked much of the sea life to death in that area, that I experienced first hand was Marvin Gaye's hit, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology Song)".
But I am not gonna linger there. No indeed, because a more important battle loomed and that was against people who would want to potentially harm my beautiful birth state of Florida by oil drilling around it's coastline and in it's beautiful life sustaining waters.
Growing up in the 1970's you were always made accutely aware of how this world's dependency on non-sustaining, non-renewable fossil fuels of oil and gas was fragile at best, dangerous at worse, when we experienced years and years of oil shortages and long lines at gas stations. Indeed, the majority of scientist do agree that we have either reached or will reach soon, in this century, a phenomenon known as oil peek in which there will be not enough oil and gas to sustain our seemingly unending appetitie for the stuff because we can't seem to ween ourselves from it by finding alternatives forms of heating our homes and businesses and alternatives forms of travel that do not make us hit that oil peek! Yes, the next influence of mine on this issue would be none other than our 39th President Jimmy Carter (from here in Georgia) who tried his best to make us realize that the oil and gas shortages that we experienced in the 1970's were just the tip of the iceberg as it were to what could loom ahead of us IF WE DID NOT ween ourselves off of that dependency. Yes, I was one of many young students, not able to vote, yet, who in 1977 - 78 tried there best to teach both my peers and adults both energy conservation to preserve oil and gas, but also to find and fund alternatives such as solar and wind to name just two that would ween us off that dependency because of Jimmy Carter's words of wisdom and warnings about what might loom ahead. And one of the most important ways I did this was riding my bike instead of having an adult take me places such as school, libraries, movie theatres, neighbor and friends' houses, the recreation center, parks and parties via my bike instead of in a car. I also started to realize at that young of age what could occur if an major oil spill or catastrophe were to happen along the Florida coast. And such a spill came close to Florida on June 3, 1979 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Mexico as documented on the Rachel Maddow show on May 26, 2010 from MSNBC as seen on the following video (thank you Rachel and I'll let you take it from here):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmhxpQEGPo
My belief in the fragile outcome of a possible major oil spill or catastrophe happening off the Florida coast and adversely affecting it's fragile eco-system continued to be a major concern of mine and when I found out more than likely I would not be driving after high school I realized the wisdom of riding my bike and not emitting as much fossil fuel emisssions became more important to me. Indeed when I got to the University of South Florida, in the mid-1980's, one of the major issues I worked on via volunteering with the Florida Public Interest Research Group, by canvassing and campaigning and helping with conferences about the issue was to prevent Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline. Yes, I even got on television in the fall of 1985, a few months after my major bike accident that I documented in part one of this story, during a conference held by the Florida Public Interest Research Group in Tampa (I was an audience member who was looking very sternly at the participants of the conference wearing as many lapel stickers and buttons expressing displeasure at the thought that Florida's coastline might be opened up for oil and gas exploration and possible oil spills and catastrophes. I got rave reviews by fellow volunteers and paid staff at the Florida Public Interest Research Group from the news reports that showed me in the audience with the stern looks.)
Now, full disclosure time, yes I did learn how to drive or at least I thought I did. That would have been during the summer of 1986. But I always remember that I really always wished to more often ride my bike than drive and although most of that want was the fact that many times I felt more free on a bike and in touch with my surrounding environment, much of that was also because I did not like the fact that now I was one of those who were emitting fossil fuels that were not in abundent supply. (I would stop driving in January 1997, when I got into more trouble with too many car accidents and had to work out some kind of agreement and abide by it, which I have since, that my sister who is an attorney made with a Fulton County traffic court judge that I would NOT drive, again, and would surrender my driver's license for good. So, I can't drive, y'all! Nor would I want to as the years have progressed.)
But I digress. On March 24, 1989, another oil spill happened off the coast of Alaska (and I know I'm probably running the risk here of offending the "sensibilities" {cough-cough} of those supporters and followers of such people as former Alaska Governor and nearly devoid of brain cells Sarah Palin who would want to in their own words, "Drill, baby, drill!" But I don't really give a shit if I do!) This oil spill was caused by a leakage from damage on the Exxon Valdez. This is documented in the following two youtube videos for those who might not remember, or choose not too or maybe too young to remember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkzB1ZYcTwM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_OjFwCSd0
At the time of the Exxon Valdez disaster, I was a Florida Young Democrat, having originally joined the group and being elected the Treasurer and then the Secretary of the University of South Florida's College Democrats and working tirelessy as a volunteer on many campaigns in the elections of 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988. In April 1989, there was to be the platform committee conference in Tallahassee in the Florida State House of Representatives chamber in the State Capitol as happens every year to discuss and pass charter amendments and the platform of the Florida Young Democrats for that year and more than likely what would remain in the platform for the rest of the time of the existence of the Florida Young Democrats. And many of these charter amendments, if not all, would eventually find themselves written into the permanent platform of the Florida Democratic Party as well. Well, after the Exxon Valdez disaster, I decided that I would not let opportunity pass to make sure that there was a strongly worded charter amendment passed into the permanent platform of the Florida Young Democrats saying that we believed that there should be NO Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline with NO exceptions in regards to mileage.
At around this same time, a few days after the March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdez oil disaster, I went to a campaign rally, in Tampa, for former Congressman Bill Nelson (now senior U.S. Senator of Florida) who at the time was gearing up to run for Governor of Florida in 1990. While Congressman Nelson was on the podium speaking I was horrified to hear from him that the Florida Young Democrats and the Florida Democratic Party had no charter amendment in their platforms banning Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline. I was horrified, by this prospect, after seeing the news videos and photos in magazines and newspapers of the results of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Congressman Nelson's words about the lack of such a charter amendment was confirmed to me by an older woman who was an advisor to the Florida Young Democrats! After he got done speaking, I immediately went up to speak to Congressman Nelson to ask him how it had occurred that the Florida Young Democrats had no charter amendment banning Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline regardless of mileage. Congressman Nelson told me that as a Florida Young Democrat in 1974 he himself had tried to have an amendment passed to ban Offshore Oil Drilling into the platform but was met with much resistance and it was defeated in the platform committee conference that previous year of 1974. Congressman Nelson then urged me to work on such an amendment and get it passed for the 1989 platform committee conference, and if I did he would make sure that he would lend as much support as he possibly could to see that such a charter amendment would be passed to reinforce the Florida Young Democrats committment to ban Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline regardless of mileage by getting one passed into the Florida Democratic Party's platform.
That night I went home to, New Port Richey, and started making calls around the state lobbying and feeling out my fellow Florida Young Democrats to get them on-board to pass a charter amendment stating that the Florida Young Democrats support a ban on Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline regardless of mileage. Unfortunately I must have felt as Congressman Nelson did in 1974 as I was met with ton of opposition and hemming and hawing that I would HAVE to scale back the amendment in terms of mileage! UGH! I kept on resisting this attempt to both not bring the subject up at the platform committee conference and/or water it down again and again mentioning was anyone watching what was happening up in Alaska?!!! Finally, as though a port-in-the-storm, an answer came in the form of one call I made to the then Florida Young Democrats President Scott Maddox (a then politcal science student at Florida State University, who would later go on to be elected mayor of Tallahassee and unfortunately not be elected in 2010 as Florida's Agricultural Commissioner.) Here is the wikipedia article on my friend and one of my heroes Scott Maddox, thank you sir for the rest of the story of empowerment you helped me achieve you will always be true gentleman of his word to me and you deserve so much success:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Maddox
Scott Maddox told me, when I told him about my proposed charter amendment to say that the Florida Young Democrats supported a ban on Offshore Oil Drilling with NO exceptions for mileage, that he himself had thought to bring up such a charter amendment but knew he could NOT as the President of the Florida Young Democrats. He urged me over the phone to find him at the state Capitol when I arrived in Tallahassee and he would help me not only pass such an amendment but help me write it as well. Indeed, Scott Maddox was true man of his word and helped me to write one of the best proposed charter amendments, I feel, ever was written for any party platform with making sure I included my love for my birth state's beaches, waterways, bays, estuaries, marshes, wildlife and life sustaining marine life in why I did not want to see off the Florida coastline a similiar disaster as was playing out at that moment in Alaska! (Again, thank you Scott and this is why Scott Maddox will have my unending support no matter what office he runs for and no matter where else I am!)
When I got the proposed charter amendment to the floor of the Florida State House of Representatives and after I read it aloud I was met with yet again more fierce opposition and so many attempts to water it down in terms of mileage! But I stood my ground and continued to say no, No, NO to such attempts including from two fellow former University of South Florida College Democrats (who in their lingering ignorance would later go on to switch to the GOP; I say good riddance, myself! They were obviously fair weather friends, anyway.) Scott Maddox from the front of the House chambers, as President of Florida Young Democrats also did all he could to spike these attempts at watering down and even having me yield to pull the proposed charter amendment.
Finally I had enough, and I said out loud, if this charter amendment was NOT passed, in light of the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, into the Florida Young Democrats platform saying that we were for a permanent ban on Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coast with NO exceptions as to mileage I could not and would not believe that this was the Florida Democratic party that tried to continue in a progressive movement forward and I might not be able to continue to support such a party. My emotional, but well-thought out speech on this issue in support of my own proposed charter amendment apparently turned the tide and my proposed charter amendment passed WITHOUT opposition! A few months later my charter amendment saying that the Florida Young Democrats supported a permanent ban on Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida coastline with NO exceptions for mileage became a permanent part of the Florida Young Democrats platfom and as I found out last year, during the 2010 elections, is still part of their platfom (some University of South Florida College Democrats I met in October 2010 had no idea that I was the person who was responsible for bringing that charter amendment into being, and when I told them, and I told them in a way where I was thinking I'm humble in regards to that fact I don't want to take the spotlight because it wasn't about me it was about doing what was the right thing to do and continue to believe that both as someone who rides a bike and tries to limit my emissions of fossil fuels and also someone who truely loves the beauty of his birth state of Florida and would not like to see it spoiled by an oil spill off it's coastline, they thanked me for doing that.) So, for 22 years and counting the Florida Young Democrats, in their platform, have been against Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida Coast with NO exceptions as to mileage. And yes I still consider that to be one of my most proudest moments!
Two years later, in 1991, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson was also a man of his word and got the Florida Democratic Party to adopt the same charter amendment in their party platform that the Florida Democratic party supported a permanent ban on Offshore Oil Drilling off the Florida Coast with NO exceptions as to mileage! And yes, I consider myself proud of that achievement as well, and that I know that at least the party I most identify with and was registered with in Florida, continues to this day to know the importance of protecting it's most valuable resource it's coastline and waters!
And as I continue to pedal my bike, I know that whenever I will visit Florida that I have the backing of the Florida Democratic Party and the Florida Young Democrats in terms of knowing that I will get to see some of the most beautiful scenery of beaches, marshes and estuaries known to man.
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