The
intention was to pull the curtain back on the sugar
industry. We wanted to dig as deep into the muck as we could, in one day,
to uncover just how profoundly Big Sugar affects us all.
Why?
Because after the
November 2014 elections, the South Florida Water Management District
Governing Board’s refusal to buck Big Sugar, and the 2015 Florida
Legislative sessions, it
became crystal clear that Big Sugar rules Florida (for now). We need to take a different approach to
tackling the stranglehold Big Sugar has on all of us, and the way to
begin is to learn as much as possible about the industry's impact on Florida and its citizens.

The dialogue started with the Founder of The Everglades Trust, Mary Barley's opening remarks recounting her personal,
decades-long battle to rein in Big Sugar for the sake of Everglades
restoration.

Stephen
E. Davis III, Ph.D., Wetland Ecologist with The Everglades Foundation
detailed the past, present, and future of Everglades restoration, the need to send water south from Lake Okeechobee, and the
desperate ecological situation in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.

The
keynote address by Chairman Colley Billie of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians
was the highlight of the day. Chairman Billie's deep conviction that water
quality in the Everglades must be the top priority, and that we must work
together to achieve a high standard of water quality, was impressed upon
everyone in the room.

All
spoke on the subject of the damaging, outdated
practice of pre-harvest burning of sugarcane fields in South Florida.
How sugar growers profit at the expense of public health in the EAA
was a special point of interest for many attendees. See here for a more expansive description
of the panel's offerings.

Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics, brought all the truly disturbing news of just how many Big Sugar dollars make their way into political decisions and election results at the federal level. After all that, she inspired the crowd with her optimism that voters and well-informed citizens can still and must fight back.
Manley
Fuller, President of Florida Wildlife Federation, who has seen it all at
the state level for decades of the Everglades restoration struggle, brought the
formal program to a close.
Last, but certainly not least, was the open microphone at the end of the program where
attendees had the opportunity to share ideas, pose questions, and propose next
steps.

For more Big Sugar Summit follow-up, visit and re-visit to this link where photos, presentations, videos and opportunities for further discussion will be posted as they become available.