Sustainability

Recycling • Resources • Lifestyle

By Sally Bethea

The November sky was beginning to darken, as evening approached. We had finished setting up our tents on a wooden platform surrounded by tea-colored water: naturally pure freshwater, stained by tannins released by decomposing vegetation. As the darkness deepened, I could see what appeared to be tiny lights a few hundred yards away, just above the waterline; the lights were in pairs and glowing red. Although there were no barriers, our guide reassured me that the alligators would not crawl onto our camping platform. I don’t recall sleeping much that night.

dioxide along the eastern ridge of the wildlife refuge. According to The New York Times, Mr. Babbitt rejected in advance all arguments that the swamp and its wildlife and forests would not be harmed by mining 38,000 acres for the whitening pigment used in paint, paper products, toothpaste and even Oreo cookies.