Blue is the New Green:
Water sustainability and the future of Florida
In the 19th Century, Floridians were determined to rid the land of water, never imagining how sorely we would someday miss 9 million acres of wetlands drained statewide. In the 20th Century, we viewed our aquifers underground as endless, handing out water permits to anyone who asked for one, never imagining a time when our once-abundant groundwater resources would no longer be sustainable for future supply. What assumptions are we making today that will seem equally far-fetched 50 or 100 years from now? Cynthia Barnett says one false assumption is that we must have more and more and more water to grow and prosper. Barnett’s forthcoming book, Blue is the New Green: An American water ethic is part expose’ of America’s green craze, which she argues is overlooking the greatest resource issue of our time, and part call for a national water ethic – in the same spirit that Aldo Leopold called for a land ethic 60 years ago.
In the 21st Century, Florida has a chance to forge a sustainable water path. Will we do it?
Speaker Bio
Journalist Cynthia Barnett is the author of Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S., winner of the gold medal for best non-fiction in the Florida Book Awards. The St. Petersburg Times compared Mirage to Silent Spring and River of Grass as a “groundbreaking call to action.” In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly said it “should become vital reading for citizens and policymakers as global concerns over water scarcity grow.”
Ms. Barnett is senior writer at Florida Trend magazine, where she covers investigative, environmental, public policy and business stories. Her numerous writing and reporting prizes include eight Green Eyeshade Awards, which recognize outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states. She has a bachelor’s in journalism and master’s in environmental history, both from the University of Florida, and she spent a year studying water supply as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.
Ms. Barnett is a fifth-generation Floridian. She lives in Gainesville with her husband, science writer Aaron Hoover, and their two, sixth-generation kids. She is currently working on her second book, Blue is the New Green: An American Water Ethic, which will be published by Beacon Press in 2011.