“Buy the land,” “blow up the dike,” “send the water south,” “flood the sugar fields” and “movetheir houses on wheels.”
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“Buy the land,” “blow up the dike,” “send the water south,” “flood the sugar fields” and “move
their houses on wheels.”
Many of these threats have been made on social media and in the news by extremists aligning with some of Florida's best-funded environmental activist groups. At the center of their agenda are all policies that seek to dehumanize us, take away our jobs and ultimately, destroy our Glades communities.
It’s time for the public to understand just who these groups really are, what motivates them, and how their stated policies will harm the people in the Glades. Starting in 2023, Glades Lives Matter will grade these organizations that seek to disrupt our way of life and threaten local jobs.
Here’s a look at how they fared in 2023:
Everglades Foundation
2023 Grade: F
Anti-Glades Agenda? Yes. Since it was founded in 1993, the Everglades Foundation has been the most prominent organization pushing an anti-Glades agenda, including policies that advocate for reducing farmland, punishing local businesses through government regulations, and reducing jobs in the Glades communities.
Who’s behind it? Led by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, the Everglades Foundation raises millions annually at the luxurious Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, which attracts wealthy celebrities and activists all united behind an agenda focused on putting Glades residents out of jobs. They give this money to other organizations that will repeat their rhetoric and further their antiGlades agenda.
Diversity? According to its website, the Everglades Foundation has only one African American on its board of 32 members and relies on mostly white wealthy donors.
Recent proposals: The Everglades Foundation in 2022 advocated for a proposal to take water in Lake Okeechobee from the more than 6 million people living south of the lake who depend on it. They also have supported plans that take more farmland out of production, which would hurt local jobs and minority communities. They are suing their former scientist to withhold information from the public, presumably because it would show their policies are based more on political science than actual science.
Friends of the Everglades
2023 Grade: F
Anti-Glades Agenda? Yes. Friends of the Everglades is currently advocating for harmful anti-Glades policies that would directly result in fewer jobs in the Glades region. Additionally, the organization routinely spreads misinformation about the impacts of local agricultural activities, including pre-harvest sugarcane burns. Despite the claims made by this organization, the air quality in the Glades communities is among the cleanest in the entire state of Florida according to the Florida Department of Health. A controversial lawsuit claiming a link between prescribed burns and local health and economic issues was dropped in 2022 due to a lack of evidence. These facts have never been acknowledged by the Friends of the Everglades.
Who’s behind it? The organization is led by former TC Palm editorial page editor Eve Samples, who has a history of attacking our Glades communities and supporting policies that would result in fewer jobs. Her group is part of the Everglades Coalition, an alliance that is funded and driven by the Everglades
Foundation.
Diversity? According to the Friends of the Everglades website, its board has very little diversity – only one African American, and that person lives primarily in Los Angeles California and has become active in the Glades (very conveniently added to their board after “Friends” joined the attack on pre-harvest sugarcane
burns in the Glades). Additionally, the organization has attacked local leaders when it disagrees with local residents, who generally support local farming
businesses.
Recent Proposals: In 2023, Friends of the Everglades supported a legislative agenda that attacks farmers, spreads misinformation about the Glades’ air quality, and would drastically reduce farmable land in the Glades communities.
Sierra Club
2023 Grade: F
Anti-Glades Agenda? Yes.
Who’s behind it? Over the past two decades, the Sierra Club has taken $1.7 million from the anti-Glades Everglades Foundation.
Diversity? The Sierra Club has a history of advancing policies that disproportionately affect communities of color in a negative way. Its founder, John Muir, advocated such racist policies that in fact the organization has taken steps in recent years to distance itself from him. Today, they claim to be organizing in the Glades communities, but their efforts mainly depend on paying off a few local residents and relying on an organizer who drives into the Glades from coastal Broward County. In 2021, the candidates supported by the Sierra Club lost overwhelmingly in the Belle Glade City Elections
Recent Proposals: The Sierra Club has been the most prominent organization spreading misinformation about local Glades air quality. They have repeatedly attacked local farmers, pastors, city officials and anyone else who has spoken up in support of protecting our local jobs.
Captains for Clean Water
2023 Grade: D- (limited audience)
Who’s behind it? Captains for Clean Water has received at least $237,000 from the Everglades Foundation since 2016, according to IRS filings. They echo the foundation’s misinformation about the Glades and support many of the same anti-Glades policies.
Diversity? ZERO. Captains for Clean Water’s team on its website and in any public setting completely lacks in diversity – zero people of color on their staff or on their board - and they seem to advocate mostly for causes that hurt the Glades and help the wealthy, coastal boating/fishing/tourist elite.
Recent proposals: Like other Everglades Foundation-connected groups, Captains for Clean Water has been pushing a Lake Okeechobee proposal that puts the EastCoast ahead of everyone else (which is strange for a West Coast-founded group).
In one instance, the organization supported a plan that would have tripled the amount of Lake Okeechobee discharges to Southwest Florida in an effort to hold Martin County harmless. The fact this Southwest Florida-based organization would argue against its own best interest in an effort to take water away from all of South Florida shows how powerful the donors behind it are.
VoteWater.org
2023 Grade: C- (ineffective)
Anti-Glades Agenda? Yes. This organization rates candidates based on their allegiance to their environmental agenda, which almost always involves holding positions that are contrary to what is in the best interest of the residents Glades communities.
Who’s behind it? This organization is made up of some of the holdouts from Bullsugar, a defunct organization that was unsuccessful in advancing its antiGlades and anti-farmer agenda. They also have a history of attacking Glades residents on social media, to the point where their threats were investigated by
local law enforcement.
Diversity? ZERO. The staff and board of directors of Vote Waterare 100% white male
Recent proposals: This organization seems to support political candidates that pledge allegiance to harming Glades communities. Its track record in supporting successful candidates is not very good.
