ABSTRACT
Cultural and natural heritages of the Everglades have always been inextricably intertwined. History demonstrates that humans have confronted nature in attempting to develop the Everglades and its surrounding areas and these attempts continue today at an ever-increasing intensity. This has resulted in a contemporary landscape that differs significantly from what would have occurred without man’s presence. South Florida’s human community today is defined by its intriguingly chaotic cultural diversity. In this paper, we examine the mutual evolution of local human culture and the Everglades environment, suggesting that the famously intrusive current development trends are continuous with those of previous cultures. We consider the persistent difficulty of establishing a mutually compatible existence of human and natural environment in southern Florida and suggest that the conflict is fuelled by local desires for economic benefit influenced by a sense of impermanency and access to a growing technological ability that appears to favour self-interest and short-term gains in contrast to the wider-world ethic favouring conservation of the environment.
