“There are no other Everglades in the world.”
These opening words from the 1947 masterpiece titled “The Everglades: River of Grass” are iconic in environmental literature and advocacy. Know affectionately as “Mother Everglades”, author Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s life – all 108 years of it – is as meaningful today as it was during her many decades of environmental conservationism centered in Florida. Her extensive advocacy efforts can be summarized by saying simply this: without her the state of Florida likely would have descended into irreparable ecological disaster.
On her uncanny ability to get the attention of powerful people, former Chairman of the Florida Audubon Society Ed Davison put it this way: "She kept a clear vision of the way things ought to be, and she didn't give a lot of credibility to excuses about why they're not like that. She would give these wonderful, curmudgeonly speeches to which there was no response. You can't holler back to grandmotherly scolding. All you can do is shuffle your feet and say, 'Yes, Ma'am.'"
Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s life