“DOH, where’s your concern? Issue a warning about the burn!”
What do we want? Health advisories! When do we want them? NOW! On November 1, Friends of the Everglades staff traveled to West Palm Beach to take part in a protest against sugarcane burning organized by the Sierra Club’s Stop the Burn campaign. Advocates for ending the burns stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidewalk across from the Palm Beach County Department of Health waving signs and calling in unison for the state agency to start prioritizing the public health of exposed residents by issuing advisories when sugarcane fields burned. Sugarcane fields burn in the Everglades Agricultural Area six to eight months of the year, blanketing nearby communities in ash that residents call [...]