| The following images tell the story of what happens to nature's old-growth understory in the wake of commercial development. Is this what we want to happen in our communities? To our protected waterways? Development is being allowed by large and small governments everywhere, and in the process it is usurping the last remaining parcels of greenspace that we have. The pictured property here happens to be near Dunnellon, FL but it could just as well as be in your own backyard.
The problem cannot be blamed entirely on developers. Developers in this case, as well as in thousands of cases across Florida, got the initial go-ahead from a local governing body whose council members, at that point in time, were mesmerized by the untold profits that were promised in the wake of commercial development. I believe these local governments have their citizen's monetary interests at heart, they just didn't know what they were doing from an ecological vantage point. They also don't have adequate land use regulations in place to control development in the first place.
There is a lesson in here for all of us.
The fact is, small local governments like that in Dunnellon are selling Florida short. I know these tiny local governments need more funds to do more things, but they also have to decide, at some point, whether growing ever larger is in their best interests. Communities across the country are starting to say NO to relentless development and Floridians can, too.
People also have to understand that destroying Nature's understory - trees and shrubs of the lower canopy levels in a forest ecosystem – is endangering both wildlife habitats and the very air that we humans breathe, as well. Think of the understory as a kind of ecological filter.
I urge you to read some of Edward O. Wilson's books about the health of our planet. He authored Consilience, Creation, and The Future of Life among other important works. If nothing else, read the last one. It is clearly a wake-up call for all of us.
No, I am not a tree expert, I am not an environmental 'activist' per se – I am a freelance international photojournalist who sees great damage being done to the planet in the name of development, and I am concerned about human's general lack of stewardship in this regard. I came to Florida to spend some time documenting the why's and wherefore's of this state's vanishing greenspaces.
I used telephoto lenses from many angles to acheive these photographs, as well as some very wide angle lenses from the River's edge. The very nature of these lenses distort spatial relationships but they give you, the viewer, a fairly clear sense of how the understory is suffering.
It is not a pretty picture.
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