“By perceiving ourselves as part of the river, we take responsibility for the river as a whole.”
-Vaclav Havel, Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician
To Change the Ichetucknee, We Must Change Our Culture
When we talk about solving the Ichetucknee’s problems, what we are really talking about is change. That includes changing the ways we live with water as people: individuals; business owners; farmers; ranchers; agency employees; and elected officials and representatives. That also includes changes in society at the levels of neighborhoods, communities, towns, cities and counties. Solving the Ichetucknee’s problems requires culture change that will need to include shared sacrifices.
What are some of the changes we need to make?
- Instead of thinking that our supply of freshwater is infinite, we realize that it’s limited.
- Instead of thinking that finding solutions is someone else’s job, we accept that it’s our job.
- Instead of pointing fingers at others, we know that those of us who love the Ichetucknee must show leadership however we can. Some of us can show more leadership than others by virtue of our jobs or the positions we hold in our communities, but everyone can do something.
- Instead of thinking that we are powerless and voiceless, we reclaim our power and voices by joining a grassroots groundswell of love and support for the Ichetucknee.
Making changes is a choice. Choosing to change is hard but the alternative could mean losing the Ichetucknee forever because the river and springs are already impaired.
We can either acknowledge the Ichetucknee’s problems or ignore them. We can change in ways that help the Ichetucknee or we can avoid the changes that could save the river and the springs.
Those of us who love the Ichetucknee will choose to get involved. The actions we take today will determine the health of the Ichetucknee tomorrow!
Here are some ideas about what you can do that we hope will inspire you.
Individuals can reduce their water use and curtail activities that contribute to pollution. Since one of the largest water uses in homes is for lawn irrigation, we can quit watering our lawns and/or replace some or all of our grass with native grass or plants that don’t need to be watered. We can quit using pesticides and fertilizers on our lawns and, if we are on septic tanks, we can have them pumped out every 2-3 years. We can educate ourselves by attending meetings of the Ichetucknee Alliance and the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). We can communicate our love for the Ichetucknee to our elected representatives. Perhaps most important, we can vote for people who understand the importance of protecting our springs, rivers, groundwater and aquifer.
Business owners can model the behaviors described for individuals at their places of business.
Those of us at Ichetucknee Alliance know that many of our farmers and ranchers love the Ichetucknee just as much as everyone else does. Farmers and ranchers are in a prime position to help by educating themselves about the plight of the Ichetucknee and by striving to understand what more they can do to help save the springs and the river. They can tell the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that there should be more cooperation and information sharing between that agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and SRWMD. They can lobby for cost sharing or subsidies for growing water-friendly crops that use less water and fertilizer. They can also lobby for more state money to encourage research on creative techniques for better pollution control and stopping pollution at the source.
Elected representatives and agency employees can lead by example by adopting water saving and pollution prevention techniques at town, city, county and state-owned properties, and by making such actions a priority. They can strengthen permitting requirements, zoning rules, land use development regulations, ordinances and laws crafted to protect the springs, river and groundwater in the aquifer. They can educate citizens about how the actions they take will protect the Ichetucknee and the aquifer, and about why those actions are necessary and important.
Other potential solutions to the Ichetucknee’s problems may be found in the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute’s Restoration Plan and Recommendations, in Cynthia Barnett’s guidelines for a Florida water ethic, in adoption of the Precautionary Principle by the State of Florida, and in the idea of granting natural systems such as the Ichetucknee the legal right to exist and to thrive.