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sions and a quick buck? Remarkably, legislation was passed: the Florida Forever Act and
the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan were both signed into law in 2000. Mean-
while, the actual implementation of Everglades restoration has been delayed and held up
by bureaucracy and politicking at the federal, state and local levels.
Yet 2000 became even more emblematic of Florida's deeply divided self. That year's
tight presidential election between Republican George W Bush and Democrat Al Gore
hung on Florida's result. However, Florida's breathtakingly narrow vote in favor of Bush
unraveled into a fiasco of 'irregularities,' including defective ballots, wrongly purged voter
rolls and mysterious election-day roadblocks. After months of legal challenges and partial
recounts, Florida's vote was finally approved, but its reputation had been tarnished.
As the 21st century dawned, Florida's historic tensions - between its mantra of growth
and development and the unsustainable demands that this placed on society and nature -
seemed as entrenched and intractable as ever.
