Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Florida Today
Florida is undergoing seismic shifts in demographics, state identity, and - if
the environment doesn't improve - state topography, thanks to immigration,
economic recession and resurgence, and climate change. These develop-
ments, and how the state will adapt and respond to them, will shape life in
the Sunshine State for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the state is
constantly re-evaluating and evolving her tourism infrastructure to accom-
modate an ever-increasing amount of visitors.
Preserving the Peninsula
One of Florida's deepest cultural fault lines runs across the debate over development versus
conservation. For years, development held sway in the state, which has long had one of the
most robust housing markets in the country, and not coincidentally, one of the fastest grow-
ing populations. As of this writing, Florida was poised to overtake New York as the third-
most populous state in the country.
All of those people need places to live, and in Florida, the need for housing and busi-
nesses has traditionally taken precedence over preservation. But a new check on growth has
emerged that even some of the most gung-ho developers are noting. In the environmental
debates of the 21st century, low-lying Florida is on the ecological frontlines of the climate
change and water table debates.
Florida is a largely below-sea-level peninsula, and the ocean is rising even as the penin-
sula is crumbling. The culprits behind the crumble are artificial canals and waterways
dredged in the early 20th century. Those public works directed water away from the Ever-
glades and the South Florida aquifer, eroding the wetlands and depleting freshwater re-
serves. State leaders seem to have recognized how untenable the situation is, and as of the
time of research, it seems that the Florida legislature may have the political will to redirect
the natural flow of run-off water from Lake Okeechobee.
While the interior of the state is trying to re-establish a base of water, coastal areas are
trying to ward water away. Rising sea levels can be traced to climate change; rains in Miami
that would have been an afterthought a decade ago are now flooding main thoroughfares.