The Everglades Story with Michael Williams
The Everglades behold great value for Florida and those who call it home. This unique ecosystem is a source of life: our clean drinking water. It is a respite for humans and habitat to some of the world’s most imperiled species. To appreciate the Everglades, to protect them, we must first understand them.
That’s why, together with former news anchor Michael Williams, we’re proud to share The Everglades Story, a nine-part video series examining the history of the Everglades, spotlighting their beauty and explaining the major challenges facing the ecosystem today.
The “River of Grass” is the lifeblood of Florida’s water supply. A healthy Everglades is vital for our survival — but there are serious threats looming. The sugar industry has plenty of access to water, drainage and financial protections — both through government supports and taxpayers covering the cost of the industry’s pollution. Water compartmentalization has starved the Everglades of necessary clean water flows and forced dirty water into fragile coastal estuaries, creating an economic and health crisis caused by toxic algae.
The good news: There is a solution. Our effort to Rescue the River of Grass would prioritize Floridians over corporations, restore the flow of clean water south through the Everglades and limit damaging Lake Okeechobee discharges.
Watch as our storytelling partner Michael Williams tells the complete story.
Episode 1: Why the Everglades Matter to Everyone
From its headwaters near Orlando to Florida Bay, this “River of Grass” is the lifeblood of Florida’s water supply. A healthy Everglades is vital for our survival.
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Episode 2: A River Like No Other
To conserve the Everglades, we must know what once was — a flourishing wetland covering much of Florida that provided clean drinking water and vibrant biodiversity.
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Episode 3: Development and Drainage Threaten Our Future
For decades, man-made drainage and “flood control” have choked the natural sheet flow of water, leaving our ecosystem in a permanent state of crisis.
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Episode 4: A Sweet Deal for No One — Big Sugar’s Toll
Big Sugar prospers while the Everglades remain on life support. Michael Williams explains why industry resistance and government subsidies are standing in the way of your clean water.
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Episode 5: The Freshwater Crisis Beneath Our Feet
”The River of Grass” is dying of thirst. For decades, human water management has robbed the Everglades of the clean freshwater it needs to survive.
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Episode 6: Florida’s Toxic Algae Crisis
For far too long, toxic water from Lake Okeechobee has been forced into coastal estuaries, fueling blue-green algae blooms and red tide.
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Episode 7: The River of Grass is an Economic Engine
Sending clean water south is the only real solution to end the toxic algae blooms killing our wildlife, threatening your health and crashing local economies.
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Episode 8: Buy the Land to Fix the Flow
After 25 years of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), the mission to restore the southern flow of clean water remains unfinished. Science has identified what else is needed.
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Episode 9: Will the Future Be Rock Mines or Restoration?
Big Sugar is pushing to blast thousands of acres in the heart of the Everglades for a massive limestone quarry. We must choose science-backed restoration over industrial mining before the land — and our clean water — disappear forever.
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The solution: Rescue the River of Grass.
Join the movement! We’re calling on the state to allocate voter-approved funds meant for environmental land acquisition to buy and restore about 100,000 acres of land in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) for water storage and filtration. Our scientists have crunched the numbers and this is what we need to:
💦 Send adequate clean water south into the southern Everglades
❌ Prevent harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges
💰Safeguard Florida’s clean-water dependent economy
