by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Both sides in the environmental debate paint the opposition with extreme colors.
One side wants to pave the state to the water’s edge.
The other would set aside priceless land for a colony of blue-tailed blowflies.
“We put everybody in a room; people who hate each other, or think they hate each other,” said Eric Smith, associate dean at Florida Coastal School of Law. “We’ve only got one planet, regardless of what side you’re on.
”Those fires out in California? The environmentalists and the anti-environmentalists are all running from them.”
In other words, nature bats last.
Florida Coastal is providing a big room for two days of discussion at the Northeast Florida Environmental Summit, titled, “Roadmap to the Future: Charting a Course To Protect Our Fragile Environment.”
Now in its fifth year, the Nov. 13-14 summit is organized by the school’s Center for Strategic Governance and International Initiatives. Sessions both days will start between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m.
There will be a wine and cheese reception at the end of the first day.
On the agenda are U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, State Senate President Jim King and environmental advocate Honey Rand, author of “Water Wars: A Story of People, Politics and Power.”
“We hope to let important people like Sen. King and Sen. Nelson know there are a lot of people out here that still care about the environment, and if they have an initiative, we can be counted on to back it,” said Smith. “If they don’t have any ideas, perhaps we’ll come up with some new wrinkles here.”
Tentatively on the schedule is Bill Belleville, who wrote “River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida’s St. Johns River,” which came out in 2000. It went through three hardbound editions before going to paperback.
“We want to attract even more lawyers than we have in the past,” said Smith. “We want to attract people who say, ‘I’d like to make a difference in my community. I’m going to take some time to find out how I can be a player in environmental issues, growth management.’”
David Crockett, descendant of the frontiersman who died at the Alamo and a former mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn., may also attend.
“He may be our keynote speaker the second day,” said Smith, who has attended one of Crockett’s talks. “He’s been invited, if I can squirrel around the cash.
“He talks about sustainability. He talks about bullet trains between Chattanooga and Atlanta and Jacksonville, so people don’t talk about how far these cities are, but it being 15 minutes to here or 45 minutes to there.
“He’s got some very innovative ideas.”
Having well-known speakers helps draw the crowds, Smith said. But the summit’s impact is strong even without them.
“No matter how much national renown our speakers happen to bring to the table, we always have phenomenal speakers and excellent dialogue,” he said.
FCSL began organizing the annual summits as a way for the law school, the center and the students could join the community on issues of critical concern.
“The sad thing about the environment,” said Smith, “is that, politically, it’s almost off the radar. Everyone’s too busy with wars and deficits.
“It’s a real challenge, preventing this part of the country from being paved from top to bottom and side to side like Dade County and Broward County. We need to be about the business of dealing in responsible growth and kicking our environmental awareness involvement up — as Emeril might say — a notch.”
Topics include air quality, land, preservation, enforcement, environmental justice and water quality — in lakes, rivers and the ocean. There may also be some discussion about South Florida’s desire to draw its drinking water from North Florida.
“I’ve always felt you can make a lot of progress,” said Smith, “when you start determining how many issues you actually agree on and debate intelligently and rationally the ones you disagree on.”