I had a polite inquiry from a reader who wondered why, if this is supposed to be about Florida, I include so much stuff about what’s happening in other states and around the world.

It’s simple: most of what’s happening around the world, in an environmental sense, is about Florida. When Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach and Miami, the Everglades and Tampa face the distinct possibility of inundation over the next couple of centuries, news about the Greenland ice cap is news about Florida.

When the attitudes and policies of the people in Washington and their minions about protection of the water supply in Los Angeles bear on dozens of Federal and State agencies throughout the country, they have a direct bearing on whether or not we’ll get sensible about the Florida aquifers in time to save our drinking water, and when the Department of Homeland Security enacts more ridiculous regulations so that they’ll look as though they’re actually accomplishing something, it impacts our flow of visitors and, in turn, our economy.

Policies toward poor people, guest and illegal workers, whether or not cattle farmers can continue to allow runoff of cow shit into our surface and subsurface water supplies, and our relationships with our much-maligned and mistreated neighbor immediately to the south all affect the realities of Florida agriculture, and the lives of thousands of folks who work in it and the millions who depend on it.

The attitudes of our local governments are important, as well. An excellent example is the decision in Glades County — defeated, thankfully — about permitting construction of a coal-fired power plant. What could have been a financial windfall for that rural county of 10,000 souls would have been a windfall of an entirely different kind for their neighbors and — ultimately — for the rest of the world.

The thing that we all have to understand about the current (and future) state of affairs is this: it is no longer “us” and “them,” it’s just US. My decision to purchase a Hyundai Elantra instead of a Hummer impacts far more than my local dealers and their suppliers. It directly affects the future of every human being on the planet.

So. That’s why. It’s all about Florida. And it’s my blog. ______________________________

This is a good time to consider the Buddhist concept of Interbeing. Be my guest.

Namasté