Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades
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0:01 - 0:03So I've had the great privilege
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0:03 - 0:05of traveling to some incredible places,
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0:05 - 0:09photographing these distant landscapes
and remote cultures -
0:09 - 0:11all over the world.
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0:11 - 0:12I love my job.
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0:12 - 0:15But people think it's
this string of epiphanies -
0:15 - 0:17and sunrises and rainbows,
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0:17 - 0:20when in reality, it looks
more something like this. -
0:20 - 0:21(Laughter)
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0:21 - 0:23This is my office.
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0:23 - 0:26We can't afford the fanciest places
to stay at night, -
0:26 - 0:29so we tend to sleep a lot outdoors.
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0:29 - 0:31As long as we can stay dry,
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0:31 - 0:32that's a bonus.
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0:32 - 0:35We also can't afford
the fanciest restaurants. -
0:35 - 0:38So we tend to eat
whatever's on the local menu. -
0:38 - 0:41And if you're in the Ecuadorian Páramo,
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0:41 - 0:44you're going to eat
a large rodent called a cuy. -
0:44 - 0:46(Laughter)
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0:46 - 0:49But what makes our experiences
perhaps a little bit different -
0:49 - 0:52and a little more unique
than that of the average person -
0:52 - 0:55is that we have this gnawing thing
in the back of our mind -
0:55 - 0:59that even in our darkest moments,
and those times of despair, -
0:59 - 1:03we think, "Hey, there might be
an image to be made here, -
1:03 - 1:05there might be a story to be told."
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1:06 - 1:08And why is storytelling important?
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1:09 - 1:13Well, it helps us to connect with our
cultural and our natural heritage. -
1:13 - 1:14And in the Southeast,
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1:14 - 1:17there's an alarming disconnect
between the public -
1:17 - 1:21and the natural areas that allow
us to be here in the first place. -
1:22 - 1:24We're visual creatures,
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1:24 - 1:27so we use what we see
to teach us what we know. -
1:28 - 1:30Now the majority of us
aren't going to willingly go -
1:30 - 1:32way down to a swamp.
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1:33 - 1:36So how can we still expect
those same people to then advocate -
1:36 - 1:38on behalf of their protection?
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1:38 - 1:40We can't.
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1:40 - 1:44So my job, then, is to use photography
as a communication tool, -
1:44 - 1:48to help bridge the gap
between the science and the aesthetics, -
1:48 - 1:49to get people talking,
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1:50 - 1:51to get them thinking,
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1:51 - 1:53and to hopefully, ultimately,
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1:53 - 1:54get them caring.
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1:55 - 1:58I started doing this 15 years ago
right here in Gainesville, -
1:58 - 2:00right here in my backyard.
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2:00 - 2:03And I fell in love
with adventure and discovery, -
2:03 - 2:05going to explore
all these different places -
2:05 - 2:07that were just minutes
from my front doorstep. -
2:07 - 2:10There are a lot
of beautiful places to find. -
2:10 - 2:12Despite all these years that have passed,
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2:12 - 2:14I still see the world
through the eyes of a child -
2:15 - 2:17and I try to incorporate
that sense of wonderment -
2:17 - 2:22and that sense of curiosity
into my photography -
2:22 - 2:24as often as I can.
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2:25 - 2:27And we're pretty lucky
because here in the South, -
2:27 - 2:30we're still blessed
with a relatively blank canvas -
2:30 - 2:34that we can fill with the most
fanciful adventures -
2:34 - 2:36and incredible experiences.
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2:36 - 2:40It's just a matter of how far
our imagination will take us. -
2:40 - 2:43See, a lot of people
look at this and they say, -
2:43 - 2:44"Oh yeah, wow, that's a pretty tree."
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2:44 - 2:46But I don't just see a tree --
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2:46 - 2:49I look at this and I see opportunity.
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2:49 - 2:50I see an entire weekend.
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2:51 - 2:54Because when I was a kid,
these were the types of images -
2:54 - 2:56that got me off the sofa
and dared me to explore, -
2:56 - 2:58dared me to go find the woods
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2:58 - 3:01and put my head underwater
and see what we have. -
3:01 - 3:04And folks, I've been photographing
all over the world -
3:04 - 3:06and I promise you,
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3:06 - 3:07what we have here in the South,
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3:07 - 3:09what we have in the Sunshine State,
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3:09 - 3:11rivals anything else that I've seen.
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3:12 - 3:16But yet our tourism industry is busy
promoting all the wrong things. -
3:17 - 3:19Before most kids are 12,
they'll have been to Disney World -
3:19 - 3:21more times than they've been in a canoe
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3:21 - 3:24or camping under a starry sky.
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3:25 - 3:28And I have nothing against Disney
or Mickey; I used to go there, too. -
3:28 - 3:31But they're missing out on those
fundamental connections -
3:31 - 3:34that create a real sense
of pride and ownership -
3:34 - 3:36for the place that they call home.
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3:37 - 3:40And this is compounded by the issue
that the landscapes -
3:40 - 3:42that define our natural heritage
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3:42 - 3:45and fuel our aquifer
for our drinking water -
3:45 - 3:50have been deemed as scary
and dangerous and spooky. -
3:50 - 3:52When our ancestors first came here,
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3:52 - 3:55they warned, "Stay out
of these areas, they're haunted. -
3:55 - 3:58They're full of evil spirits and ghosts."
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3:58 - 4:00I don't know where
they came up with that idea. -
4:01 - 4:03But it's actually led
to a very real disconnect, -
4:03 - 4:05a very real negative mentality
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4:05 - 4:09that has kept the public
disinterested, silent, -
4:09 - 4:11and ultimately, our environment at risk.
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4:13 - 4:16We're a state that's surrounded
and defined by water, -
4:16 - 4:17and yet for centuries,
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4:17 - 4:19swamps and wetlands have been regarded
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4:19 - 4:22as these obstacles to overcome.
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4:22 - 4:26And so we've treated them
as these second-class ecosystems, -
4:26 - 4:29because they have
very little monetary value -
4:29 - 4:32and of course, they're known
to harbor alligators and snakes -- -
4:32 - 4:36which, I'll admit, these aren't
the most cuddly of ambassadors. -
4:36 - 4:37(Laughter)
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4:37 - 4:40So it became assumed, then,
that the only good swamp -
4:40 - 4:41was a drained swamp.
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4:41 - 4:43And in fact,
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4:43 - 4:46draining a swamp to make way
for agriculture and development -
4:46 - 4:50was considered the very essence
of conservation not too long ago. -
4:51 - 4:52But now we're backpedaling,
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4:52 - 4:55because the more we come to learn
about these sodden landscapes, -
4:55 - 4:57the more secrets we're starting to unlock
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4:57 - 5:00about interspecies relationships
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5:00 - 5:04and the connectivity of habitats,
watersheds and flyways. -
5:05 - 5:07Take this bird, for example:
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5:07 - 5:09this is the prothonotary warbler.
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5:09 - 5:11I love this bird because
it's a swamp bird, -
5:11 - 5:13through and through, a swamp bird.
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5:13 - 5:17They nest and they mate and they breed
in these old-growth swamps -
5:17 - 5:18in these flooded forests.
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5:18 - 5:21And so after the spring,
after they raise their young, -
5:21 - 5:23they then fly thousand of miles
over the Gulf of Mexico -
5:23 - 5:25into Central and South America.
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5:26 - 5:27And then after the winter,
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5:27 - 5:29the spring rolls around
and they come back. -
5:29 - 5:32They fly thousands of miles
over the Gulf of Mexico. -
5:32 - 5:35And where do they go? Where do they land?
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5:35 - 5:38Right back in the same tree.
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5:39 - 5:40That's nuts.
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5:40 - 5:43This is a bird the size
of a tennis ball -- -
5:44 - 5:45I mean, that's crazy!
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5:45 - 5:48I used a GPS to get here today,
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5:48 - 5:49and this is my hometown.
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5:49 - 5:51(Laughter)
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5:51 - 5:52It's crazy.
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5:52 - 5:56So what happens, then, when this bird
flies over the Gulf of Mexico -
5:56 - 5:58into Central America for the winter
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5:58 - 6:00and then the spring rolls around
and it flies back, -
6:00 - 6:03and it comes back to this:
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6:03 - 6:05a freshly sodded golf course?
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6:06 - 6:09This is a narrative that's
all too commonly unraveling -
6:09 - 6:10here in this state.
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6:10 - 6:13And this is a natural process
that's occurred for thousands of years -
6:13 - 6:15and we're just now learning about it.
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6:15 - 6:18So you can imagine all else we have
to learn about these landscapes -
6:18 - 6:20if we just preserve them first.
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6:20 - 6:24Now despite all this rich life
that abounds in these swamps, -
6:24 - 6:26they still have a bad name.
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6:27 - 6:30Many people feel uncomfortable
with the idea of wading -
6:31 - 6:32into Florida's blackwater.
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6:32 - 6:34I can understand that.
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6:34 - 6:37But what I loved about growing up
in the Sunshine State -
6:37 - 6:38is that for so many of us,
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6:38 - 6:42we live with this latent
but very palpable fear -
6:42 - 6:45that when we put our toes into the water,
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6:45 - 6:48there might be something much more ancient
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6:48 - 6:50and much more adapted than we are.
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6:51 - 6:55Knowing that you're not top dog
is a welcomed discomfort, I think. -
6:56 - 7:00How often in this modern
and urban and digital age -
7:00 - 7:04do you actually get the chance
to feel vulnerable, -
7:04 - 7:08or consider that the world may not
have been made for just us? -
7:08 - 7:09So for the last decade,
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7:09 - 7:13I began seeking out these areas
where the concrete yields to forest -
7:13 - 7:15and the pines turn to cypress,
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7:15 - 7:18and I viewed all these
mosquitoes and reptiles, -
7:18 - 7:20all these discomforts,
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7:20 - 7:24as affirmations that I'd found
true wilderness, -
7:24 - 7:26and I embrace them wholly.
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7:26 - 7:29Now as a conservation photographer
obsessed with blackwater, -
7:29 - 7:31it's only fitting that I'd
eventually end up -
7:31 - 7:33in the most famous swamp of all:
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7:33 - 7:35the Everglades.
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7:35 - 7:37Growing up here in North Central Florida,
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7:37 - 7:39it always had these enchanted names,
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7:39 - 7:42places like Loxahatchee and Fakahatchee,
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7:42 - 7:44Corkscrew, Big Cypress.
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7:44 - 7:48I started what turned
into a five-year project -
7:48 - 7:52to hopefully reintroduce
the Everglades in a new light, -
7:52 - 7:53in a more inspired light.
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7:54 - 7:57But I knew this would be a tall order,
because here you have an area -
7:57 - 8:00that's roughly a third the size
the state of Florida, it's huge. -
8:00 - 8:02And when I say Everglades,
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8:02 - 8:04most people are like,
"Oh, yeah, the national park." -
8:04 - 8:09But the Everglades is not just a park;
it's an entire watershed, -
8:09 - 8:12starting with the Kissimmee
chain of lakes in the north, -
8:12 - 8:14and then as the rains
would fall in the summer, -
8:14 - 8:17these downpours would flow
into Lake Okeechobee, -
8:17 - 8:20and Lake Okeechobee would fill up
and it would overflow its banks -
8:20 - 8:24and spill southward, ever slowly,
with the topography, -
8:24 - 8:26and get into the river of grass,
the Sawgrass Prairies, -
8:26 - 8:28before meting into the cypress slews,
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8:28 - 8:31until going further south
into the mangrove swamps, -
8:31 - 8:35and then finally -- finally --
reaching Florida Bay, -
8:35 - 8:37the emerald gem of the Everglades,
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8:37 - 8:38the great estuary,
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8:38 - 8:40the 850 square-mile estuary.
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8:40 - 8:45So sure, the national park
is the southern end of this system, -
8:45 - 8:48but all the things that make it unique
are these inputs that come in, -
8:48 - 8:51the fresh water that starts
100 miles north. -
8:51 - 8:54So no manner of these political
or invisible boundaries -
8:54 - 8:59protect the park from polluted water
or insufficient water. -
8:59 - 9:02And unfortunately, that's precisely
what we've done. -
9:03 - 9:04Over the last 60 years,
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9:04 - 9:08we have drained, we have dammed,
we have dredged the Everglades -
9:08 - 9:12to where now only one third of the water
that used to reach the bay -
9:12 - 9:14now reaches the bay today.
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9:15 - 9:18So this story is not all sunshine
and rainbows, unfortunately. -
9:19 - 9:21For better or for worse,
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9:21 - 9:24the story of the Everglades
is intrinsically tied -
9:24 - 9:28to the peaks and the valleys
of mankind's relationship -
9:28 - 9:29with the natural world.
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9:29 - 9:31But I'll show you
these beautiful pictures, -
9:31 - 9:33because it gets you on board.
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9:33 - 9:36And while I have your attention,
I can tell you the real story. -
9:36 - 9:38It's that we're taking this,
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9:38 - 9:41and we're trading it for this,
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9:41 - 9:42at an alarming rate.
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9:43 - 9:45And what's lost on so many people
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9:45 - 9:48is the sheer scale
of which we're discussing. -
9:48 - 9:51Because the Everglades is not just
responsible for the drinking water -
9:51 - 9:53for 7 million Floridians;
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9:53 - 9:56today it also provides
the agricultural fields -
9:56 - 9:58for the year-round tomatoes and oranges
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9:58 - 10:01for over 300 million Americans.
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10:02 - 10:06And it's that same seasonal pulse
of water in the summer -
10:06 - 10:10that built the river of grass
6,000 years ago. -
10:10 - 10:15Ironically, today, it's also responsible
for the over half a million acres -
10:15 - 10:17of the endless river of sugarcane.
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10:18 - 10:20These are the same fields
that are responsible -
10:20 - 10:24for dumping exceedingly high levels
of fertilizers into the watershed, -
10:24 - 10:26forever changing the system.
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10:27 - 10:30But in order for you to not just
understand how this system works, -
10:30 - 10:32but to also get personally
connected to it, -
10:32 - 10:35I decided to break the story down
into several different narratives. -
10:35 - 10:38And I wanted that story to start
in Lake Okeechobee, -
10:38 - 10:41the beating heart of the Everglade system.
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10:41 - 10:43And to do that, I picked an ambassador,
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10:43 - 10:45an iconic species.
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10:45 - 10:47This is the Everglade snail kite.
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10:48 - 10:49It's a great bird,
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10:49 - 10:51and they used to nest in the thousands,
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10:51 - 10:53thousands in the northern Everglades.
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10:53 - 10:56And then they've gone down
to about 400 nesting pairs today. -
10:56 - 10:58And why is that?
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10:58 - 11:01Well, it's because they eat
one source of food, an apple snail, -
11:01 - 11:04about the size of a ping-pong ball,
an aquatic gastropod. -
11:04 - 11:07So as we started damming up
the Everglades, -
11:07 - 11:11as we started diking Lake Okeechobee
and draining the wetlands, -
11:11 - 11:13we lost the habitat for the snail.
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11:13 - 11:16And thus, the population
of the kites declined. -
11:16 - 11:20And so, I wanted a photo that would
not only communicate this relationship -
11:20 - 11:23between wetland, snail and bird,
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11:23 - 11:25but I also wanted a photo
that would communicate -
11:25 - 11:28how incredible this relationship was,
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11:28 - 11:32and how very important it is
that they've come to depend on each other, -
11:32 - 11:34this healthy wetland and this bird.
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11:34 - 11:36And to do that, I brainstormed this idea.
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11:36 - 11:39I started sketching
out these plans to make a photo, -
11:39 - 11:42and I sent it to the wildlife biologist
down in Okeechobee -- -
11:42 - 11:45this is an endangered bird,
so it takes special permission to do. -
11:45 - 11:47So I built this submerged platform
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11:47 - 11:50that would hold snails
just right under the water. -
11:50 - 11:54And I spent months planning
this crazy idea. -
11:54 - 11:57And I took this platform
down to Lake Okeechobee -
11:57 - 11:59and I spent over a week in the water,
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11:59 - 12:03wading waist-deep,
9-hour shifts from dawn until dusk, -
12:03 - 12:06to get one image that I thought
might communicate this. -
12:06 - 12:08And here's the day that it finally worked:
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12:08 - 12:11[Video: (Mac Stone narrating)
After setting up the platform, -
12:11 - 12:14I look off and I see a kite
coming over the cattails. -
12:14 - 12:16And I see him scanning and searching.
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12:16 - 12:17And he gets right over the trap,
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12:17 - 12:19and I see that he's seen it.
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12:19 - 12:22And he beelines,
he goes straight for the trap. -
12:22 - 12:25And in that moment,
all those months of planning, waiting, -
12:25 - 12:27all the sunburn, mosquito bites --
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12:27 - 12:29suddenly, they're all worth it.
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12:29 - 12:33(Mac Stone in film) Oh my gosh,
I can't believe it!] -
12:34 - 12:36You can believe how excited I was
when that happened. -
12:36 - 12:38But what the idea was,
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12:38 - 12:40is that for someone
who's never seen this bird -
12:40 - 12:42and has no reason to care about it,
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12:42 - 12:45these photos, these new perspectives,
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12:45 - 12:48will help shed a little new light
on just one species -
12:48 - 12:52that makes this watershed
so incredible, so valuable, so important. -
12:53 - 12:56Now, I know I can't come
here to Gainesville -
12:56 - 12:58and talk to you about animals
in the Everglades -
12:58 - 13:00without talking about gators.
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13:00 - 13:02I love gators, I grew up loving gators.
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13:02 - 13:06My parents always said I had
an unhealthy relationship with gators. -
13:06 - 13:07But what I like about them is,
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13:07 - 13:10they're like the freshwater
equivalent of sharks. -
13:10 - 13:12They're feared, they're hated,
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13:12 - 13:14and they are tragically misunderstood.
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13:14 - 13:18Because these are a unique species,
they're not just apex predators. -
13:18 - 13:19In the Everglades,
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13:19 - 13:22they are the very architects
of the Everglades, -
13:22 - 13:24because as the water drops
down in the winter -
13:24 - 13:25during the dry season,
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13:25 - 13:28they start excavating these holes
called gator holes. -
13:28 - 13:31And they do this because
as the water drops down, -
13:31 - 13:34they'll be able to stay wet
and they'll be able to forage. -
13:35 - 13:37And now this isn't just affecting them,
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13:37 - 13:39other animals also depend
on this relationship, -
13:39 - 13:42so they become a keystone species as well.
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13:43 - 13:47So how do you make an apex predator,
an ancient reptile, -
13:47 - 13:49at once look like it dominates the system,
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13:49 - 13:52but at the same time, look vulnerable?
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13:53 - 13:57Well, you wade into a pit
of about 120 of them, -
13:57 - 13:59then you hope that you've made
the right decision. -
13:59 - 14:01(Laughter)
-
14:02 - 14:04I still have all my fingers, it's cool.
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14:05 - 14:07But I understand, I know
I'm not going to rally you guys, -
14:07 - 14:11I'm not going to rally the troops to
"Save the Everglades for the gators!" -
14:11 - 14:13It won't happen because
they're so ubiquitous, -
14:13 - 14:14we see them now,
-
14:14 - 14:18they're one of the great conservation
success stories of the US. -
14:18 - 14:21But there is one species in the Everglades
that no matter who you are, -
14:21 - 14:24you can't help but love, too,
and that's the roseate spoonbill. -
14:24 - 14:28These birds are great, but they've had
a really tough time in the Everglades, -
14:28 - 14:31because they started out with thousands
of nesting pairs in Florida Bay, -
14:31 - 14:33and at the turn of the 20th century,
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14:33 - 14:37they got down to two -- two nesting pairs.
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14:37 - 14:38And why?
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14:39 - 14:42That's because women thought
they looked better on their hats -
14:42 - 14:44then they did flying in the sky.
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14:44 - 14:47Then we banned the plume trade,
-
14:47 - 14:49and their numbers started rebounding.
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14:49 - 14:51And as their numbers started rebounding,
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14:51 - 14:53scientists began to pay attention,
-
14:53 - 14:54they started studying these birds.
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14:54 - 14:56And what they found out is that
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14:56 - 14:58these birds' behavior
is intrinsically tied -
14:58 - 15:01to the annual draw-down
cycle of water in the Everglades, -
15:01 - 15:04the thing that defines
the Everglades watershed. -
15:04 - 15:06What they found out is that
-
15:06 - 15:09these birds started nesting in the winter
as the water drew down, -
15:09 - 15:13because they're tactile feeders,
so they have to touch whatever they eat. -
15:13 - 15:16And so they wait for these
concentrated pools of fish -
15:16 - 15:18to be able to feed enough
to feed their young. -
15:19 - 15:22So these birds became the very icon
of the Everglades -- -
15:22 - 15:25an indicator species
of the overall health of the system. -
15:25 - 15:29And just as their numbers were rebounding
in the mid-20th century -- -
15:29 - 15:33shooting up to 900, 1,000, 1,100, 1,200 --
-
15:33 - 15:37just as that started happening, we started
draining the southern Everglades. -
15:37 - 15:41And we stopped two-thirds
of that water from moving south. -
15:41 - 15:43And it had drastic consequences.
-
15:44 - 15:46And just as those numbers
started reaching their peak, -
15:46 - 15:49unfortunately, today,
the real spoonbill story, -
15:49 - 15:54the real photo of what it looks like
is more something like this. -
15:55 - 16:00And we're down to less than 70
nesting pairs in Florida Bay today, -
16:00 - 16:02because we've disrupted
the system so much. -
16:02 - 16:05So all these different organizations
are shouting, they're screaming, -
16:05 - 16:08"The Everglades is fragile! It's fragile!"
-
16:08 - 16:09It is not.
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16:09 - 16:10It is resilient.
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16:10 - 16:14Because despite all we've taken,
despite all we've done and we've drained -
16:14 - 16:16and we've dammed and we've dredged it,
-
16:16 - 16:19pieces of it are still here,
waiting to be put back together. -
16:19 - 16:21And this is what I've loved
about South Florida, -
16:21 - 16:25that in one place, you have
this unstoppable force of mankind -
16:25 - 16:28meeting the immovable object
of tropical nature. -
16:29 - 16:33And it's at this new frontier
that we are forced with a new appraisal. -
16:33 - 16:35What is wilderness worth?
-
16:35 - 16:38What is the value of biodiversity,
or our drinking water? -
16:39 - 16:42And fortunately, after decades of debate,
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16:42 - 16:45we're finally starting to act
on those questions. -
16:45 - 16:47We're slowly undertaking these projects
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16:47 - 16:50to bring more freshwater back to the bay.
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16:50 - 16:53But it's up to us as citizens,
as residents, as stewards -
16:53 - 16:56to hold our elected officials
to their promises. -
16:57 - 16:59What can you do to help?
-
16:59 - 17:00It's so easy.
-
17:00 - 17:02Just get outside, get out there.
-
17:02 - 17:04Take your friends out, take your kids out,
-
17:04 - 17:06take your family out.
-
17:06 - 17:08Hire a fishing guide.
-
17:08 - 17:10Show the state that protecting wilderness
-
17:10 - 17:14not only makes ecological sense,
but economic sense as well. -
17:14 - 17:18It's a lot of fun, just do it --
put your feet in the water. -
17:18 - 17:20The swamp will change you, I promise.
-
17:21 - 17:23Over the years, we've been so generous
-
17:23 - 17:26with these other landscapes
around the country, -
17:26 - 17:29cloaking them with this American pride,
-
17:29 - 17:32places that we now consider to define us:
-
17:32 - 17:35Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone.
-
17:35 - 17:37And we use these parks
and these natural areas -
17:37 - 17:40as beacons and as cultural compasses.
-
17:41 - 17:43And sadly, the Everglades is very commonly
-
17:43 - 17:45left out of that conversation.
-
17:46 - 17:48But I believe it's every bit
as iconic and emblematic -
17:48 - 17:50of who we are as a country
-
17:50 - 17:53as any of these other wildernesses.
-
17:53 - 17:55It's just a different kind of wild.
-
17:56 - 17:57But I'm encouraged,
-
17:57 - 18:00because maybe we're finally
starting to come around, -
18:00 - 18:03because what was once deemed
this swampy wasteland, -
18:03 - 18:05today is a World Heritage site.
-
18:05 - 18:08It's a wetland
of international importance. -
18:09 - 18:12And we've come a long way
in the last 60 years. -
18:12 - 18:16And as the world's largest and most
ambitious wetland restoration project, -
18:16 - 18:20the international spotlight
is on us in the Sunshine State. -
18:20 - 18:22Because if we can heal this system,
-
18:22 - 18:26it's going to become an icon
for wetland restoration -
18:26 - 18:27all over the world.
-
18:28 - 18:33But it's up to us to decide which legacy
we want to attach our flag to. -
18:34 - 18:37They say that the Everglades
is our greatest test. -
18:38 - 18:41If we pass it, we get to keep the planet.
-
18:42 - 18:43I love that quote,
-
18:43 - 18:45because it's a challenge, it's a prod.
-
18:45 - 18:47Can we do it? Will we do it?
-
18:47 - 18:49We have to, we must.
-
18:50 - 18:51But the Everglades is not just a test.
-
18:52 - 18:54It's also a gift,
-
18:54 - 18:56and ultimately, our responsibility.
-
18:57 - 18:58Thank you.
-
18:58 - 19:02(Applause)
- Title:
- Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades
- Speaker:
- Mac Stone
- Description:
-
For centuries, people have viewed swamps and wetlands as obstacles to get around. But for photographer Mac Stone, whose work centers on the stories of the wildlife inhabiting Florida’s Everglades, the swamp isn’t a hindrance — it's a national treasure. Through his stunning photographs of places like Lake Okeechobee and Fakahatchee Strand Preserve and creatures such as the Everglade snail kite, the roseate spoonbill, of course, the alligator, Stone shines a new light on a neglected, ancient and important wilderness. His message: get out and experience it for yourself. "Just do it — put your feet in the water," he says. "The swamp will change you, I promise."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 19:15
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades |