I was born and raised in Pinellas County, back when it was an environmental paradise. This made it desirable and therefore people came and developed the landscape little by little, building lot by building lot. It’s now one of the most densely populated counties in the state.

Development is to be expected as populations grow and human needs are met. Growth and the economy go hand in hand, of course, but here in Florida there is currently a very serious lack of proper growth management.

Our Legislature is made up largely of those who favor growth at almost any cost to the environment. As we grow, we are covering up the environment. Researchers estimate that in the not-too-distant future, one-third of Florida’s land area will be covered with impervious surfaces, i.e. houses (as in urban sprawl), roads, parking lots and other construction that links it all together.

But even protecting a wetland that’s bordered by development does not provide for all the potential benefits of that ecosystem. Some aquatic species need uplands for parts of their life cycles. And adjacent development also adds pollutants to wetlands from runoff.

With development comes roads. Roads lure even more development and are killing zones for wildlife from bees to bears, alter hydrology and fracture valuable habitats in negative ways.

Unfortunately, our governor seems to only care about altering voting rights, banning books, limiting what school children learn, promoting racism and selecting a surgeon general unfit for the position. While catering to his rabid conservative base, he tends to skip environmental issues and adequate growth management.

He has protected some natural lands from development, as the state does from time to time through outright purchases, donations or easements, which is good. But it’s not enough and often these properties are already adjacent to development, which lessens their ecological value….

We aren’t in balance with nature. We now put more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than all the plants, soils, microorganisms, forests and oceans can remove. Development is eliminating or altering much of the earth’s surfaces to make them less able to sequester the amount of carbon necessary.

Many people don’t understand how photosynthesis works and don’t know the connection with global warming leading to climate change. They don’t know that plants incorporate carbon as part of their natural functions.

Oceans, northern boreal forests and tropical rain forests are important in capturing carbon from the atmosphere and we’re now putting out much more carbon than these areas can capture. So, we need as many trees and other green plants, soil areas, oceans and marshes as possible to capture carbon and yet we humans often disregard this. Many important forested zones are under pressure from logging and other uses and development is degrading our land little by little.

It would be good if growth/development could be managed in some way to reduce the pressure on the environment and help to make our future less worrisome than it is now with more severe change looming. Think about what we’re doing to our future generations.

We need clear thinking leaders who do not have agendas aimed at fulfilling their selfish narrow political aims only. We should be too wise to do otherwise.

Development is contributing to global warming. Be aware that now we’re in the Anthropocene, the current geological age when human activity is the dominant influence on the environment and climate.

Bill Frankenberger is a certified wildlife biologist who lives in Gainesville.