Local water warriors drove up to Tallahassee in the middle of the night to rally against Senate Bill 2508. Here, three of them sound off on the importance of water quality and why activism matters:
Holly Smith, Mayor of Sanibel Island
“Water is everything we are throughout the state of Florida. We are a tourism state. If we don’t have clean water surrounding us, then I’m not sure what our economy would be like. Our environment is based on clean water; our economy is based on clean water.”
Oona Watkins, Environmental Illustrator and Founder of Oona Seas
“It’s much more powerful to be in someone’s face about the issues. You know you can make calls, write emails and sign petitions, but when it comes down to it, elected officials seeing people’s faces in the audience or hearing them make public commentary drives the point home.”
Daniel Andrews, Co-founder of Captains for Clean Water
“[The bill] was an assault on all that progress. We figured if there’s one opportunity to comment on it, then we need to get a bunch of people up there as soon as we could … Our waterways can’t speak for themselves, so it depends on the people who love them and make their living off them and run their businesses near them to stand up and speak.”
Read more about the local fight for clean water.