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Issues: Global Warming

How Global Warming Will Affect Floridians
A photo essay exploring the consequences of climate change for Florida residents, businesses and visitors.

If you love the Everglades . . . visit now. Global warming will do irreparable harm.

Photo: Everglades enthusiasts will be affected by global warming.

The Florida Everglades are one of the state's top tourist attractions. Little wonder: the Everglades are the greatest subtropical wilderness in North America, featuring a diversity of native ecosystems -- from pinelands and sawgrass prairies to hardwood hammocks and cypress swamps -- that harbor dozens of endangered or threatened species, including the vanishing Florida panther. But global warming threatens to do this remarkable region grave harm. So if you're an Everglades lover, brace yourself. This natural treasure will never be the same.

As the sea rises, low-lying coastal areas like the Everglades will be flooded or made more vulnerable to storms. The anticipated two- to three-foot rise in sea level over the next 100 years will cause salt water to flow 10 miles or more inland -- right into the Everglades.

A shift of that magnitude would be catastrophic. The lower Everglades would likely be lost. A century of agricultural development, water diversion, and pollution have already taken a major toll on the Everglades, shrinking them to less than half their original size and eliminating massive amounts of wildlife habitat. After years of planning, multibillion dollar efforts to restore the Everglades are just beginning to get underway, but these efforts may be overwhelmed by advancing salt water caused by global warming.

Photos: Gary Braasch