Thing you could ever do. Watch after words sunday night at nine eastern p. M. On cspan twos book tv two good afternoon. No one likes to sit in the front row but there are one, two, six, seven seats in the front row. Come out and see. I want to begin by thanking Peggy Mcdonald and all of those who have worked to make the madison, such a terrific source of support for gainesville authors and their book. Peggy, thank you so much. [applause] some of the best nonfiction writing allows us to see something we thought we knew well in an entirely different way. This has been the power of my friend, jack davis career as an environmental historian who examines the past not through the spy glasses of the sailors but through the curves of the land, the running of the tide in the rush of the wind and rain. This is also the power of jacks new book were here to celebrate, the gulf the making of an american city. The clear light of nature tells a truer story than the cloudy minds of men. Nature has been and i quote participants emphasis and catalyst. It was the riches that made nations wealthy and powerful and over which their armies fought. It was the wildness our ancestors insisted on taming. The scourge that left them despairing in the blessing that kept them alive. Introducing jack in the golf is a challenge as he prays for this book is deep. Ive thrown all of that out. Instead since he plans to talk about some of the revelation in his book, i thought i would share a few revelations about jack. Last fall the two of us led about two dozen students on an overnight field trip to seahorse key, and uninhabited gulf Barrier Island. Sensitive to the consciousness of the students in my nature writing class and his environmental history class, and the number of vegetarians and vegans among them, i declared the weekend vegetarian. I asked everyone to make a veggie dish for our potluck dinner. When we all went to prepare our dishes in an Old Lighthouse kitchen on saturday night, jack uncovered his to reveal meatloaf [laughter] jack and i have been writing friends for ten years. Almost every morning around 5 0s to test out insight, to find just the right word or metaphor, or to restore each others confidence after a rejection letter or two long silence from editors in new york. But only now will jack note how annoyed i was by that meatloaf. [laughter] four, as we all do, with the people we value and as the best writers do with their subjects, i had to open my mind to the complexity that my friend of the environmental historian does not fit into a politically correct green note on. Let me dispel a few other myths about jack. He has a reputation among students for being severe, especially when it comes to grammar. Woe is the one who uses a passive voice, who punctuates outside quotation marks, or uses that where a who should be. [laughter] im glad you caught my joke. But once they take his class, the students discover their professor sensitivity. Particularly when the weather is nice and he takes them outside. He likes to ask about an enormous time your clean hall that Scientists Say is one of the oldest wreaths in the region , a rare survivor mid 92 acres of forest just right. Jack is also known for his exercise and diet regime, working out six days a week and eating little more than, you guessed it, meats, vegetables, and fruit. The real story here is more complex. Discovering it literally requires rifling through his desk drawers. The fitness guru consumes an astonishing amount of chocolate. [laughter] jacks entire top right desk drawer is dedicated to dark chocolate bars, all 85 cocoa. He nibbles squares of them while he writes in the wee hours, when the rest of us are drinking coffee. Richer than the chocolate are the stories jack revealed in this beautiful book. Before he shares a few of them, i should properly introduce him as a us professor who researches , writes and teaches not only on the environment but also race, feminism, florida, sustainability and ports. As the author, editor or coeditor of six other books including his awardwinning biography, of Marjorie Stoneman douglas, called an everglades providence and best of all is father to his fabulous daughter, willa. You can raise your hand willa. Well applaud you. [applause] so, what happens with the meatloaf at the vegetarian potluck . First, several ravenous students exclaimed, thank god as Commission Point or gay, professor davis. Then his dish was wiped clean before any of the others. I give you the talented, miss but been and the always insightful jack davis,. Good afternoon. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] the late great writer harry cruz , used to say living in gainesville was smack in the middle of the state because he could get up in the morning and drive an hour east and watch the sunrise behind the Atlantic Ocean then he could turn around and come back to gainesville and write a story for playboy or esquire and if that didnt work out, have a cocktail and lunch. Of course, harry cruz it wasnt just one cocktail, two or three. Then hed get back into his car and drive west in our twoseater key and watch the sunset into the gulf of mexico. Having spent most of my life on the gulf of mexico, ive seen countless gulf sunsets. They make it hard for me to live landlocked here in gainesville. With all that said, missing the gulf of mexico is the Gainesville Community and thats you guys. I thank you for coming out. Such a beautiful day. Thank you for sacrificing your day to spend your time locked inside for walls. I almost didnt come back. [laughter] i also want to thank anybody who has written a book and theres number of people who have written wonderful books in this room, everybody whos written a book, knows its not a solitary endeavor. There are many people involved. There are several of those here. Friends, family, librarians who are also friends, students, former students and these things are just really cannot come to be without the help of so many folks. I also want to thank Peggy Mcdonald for doing such a wonderful job with this museum but also with organizing this event and publicizing the hell out of it. I know youre tired of her Facebook Messages but i appreciated each and every one of them. Of course, i have to think cynthia barnett, she suggested that she have this writing relationship. Its been a wonderful one for me its changed my profession and cynthia is a good friend but also shes a wonderful professional partner. She works as hard as anybody to promote this event, as well, shes my local publicist, ive i like to say. Yet, we have this fantastic relationship and if theres any part in this book that shines, you can be sure that cynthia had a role in it. She read every word of this means your script in draft, many words, more than once, multiple, multiple times and she listened to my angst. So, thank you, cynthia. I want to begin by sharing a few facts about the gulf of mexico. You may not know but the gulf of mexico is the largest gulf and the tenth largest body of water in the world. Yet, geographers consider the gulf of mexico as a mere part of the Atlantic Ocean. I think this is a rip off to the gulf of mexico. Gulf actually began informing long before the atlantic was a puddle of water. Technically, this makes the gulf of mexico the big sibling to the larger fee. We all know about the gulf beautiful beaches but did you know when youre walking on the beaches, youre walking on mountains . This beautiful quartz sand that we have in florida and other parts of the gulf originated as erosion from the appellation mountains. At one time were as high as the himalayan mountains. The beaches were not the reason for or the original reason for the gulf tourism. It was a fish, tarpon, back in the 19th century launch that is today the gulf multi business billiondollar tourist rate. Were familiar what the gulf dead zone can reach the size of connecticut, depending upon conditions but i bet you didnt know theres a direct connection to the gulf dead zone in the commercial sponsors of saturday morning cartoons. If you want to know more about that, you have to read my book. [laughter] we know that gulf is a magnet for hurricanes. Its been the site of the daedalus hurricane in us history , they galveston storm of 1900 which 800010000 lights. The costliest hurricane which was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which racked up 108 million in damages and took nearly 1900 lights. I would of course be shamed in the presence of cynthia barnett, author of that wonderful book, rain, if i didnt Say Something about rain on the gulf. If the radio city in the us is on the gulf of mexico. Does anyone know what the city is . Whats the rainiest city on the gulf . Its in the northern golf gulf. Mobile. What did you say, willa . Did you really . Thats my daughter, shes not telling the truth. All right, smartypants. How many inches . 63 inches. The impact of storms would be much greater if not for Barrier Islands that circle the gulf of mexico. The longest Barrier Island in the world is padre island at a hundred 13 miles is in texas. Tabasco sauce was invented on eight louisiana island, avery island, and florida has an island that is distinguished for having the greatest population density on the gulf of mexico in florida. Nearly 5000 people. Square mile. Anybody have any idea, kathy, my dear friend from my teenage days , we grew up together in pinellas county. Any idea . Treasure island. Treasure island and Dallas County has nearly 5000 people. At the other end of the spectrum is sanibel island. 400 people. Square mile. Why would you go live on Treasure Island . [laughter] Barrier Islands and more than 100 rivers that run through the gulf are responsible or help make gulf one of the richest extremes environments in the world. There are more than 200 estuaries in the gulf of mexico. A quarter of all estuaries in the United States. You have Barrier Islands on one side and freshwater coming down and mixing in with the saltwater which makes the estuary but you have a Barrier Island that helps contain that salt and freshwater mix. Also, among those estuaries are coastal marshes. Nearly half of all coastal marshes in the United States are on the gulf of mexico. Most of those in louisiana but a good portion of them just west of here in the florida big bend. Another form of estuary is a mangrove forest. Florida is home to the majority of its countries mangroves. These marvelous estuaries had made the golf missionary, the commercial fish wary, more productive than those of the east coast combined. Eightyfive, 80 odd of the domestic shrimp come from the gulf of mexico. Forty some odd of the oysters come from the gulf of mexico. Anyone whos fished off shore in the gulf of mexico knows you can go 3040 miles out whos done that . How does the water go . Yeah, 40 miles out but how many 75, you never see more than ten or 15 feet deep that far out. There you go. You can run aground out there if you dont watch out, as he said. Why is that . Because of the Continental Shelf the Continental Shelf reaches in some places along the gulf 90 miles out. At the end of the shelf when the water was thousands of years ago when the water was much lower, the end of the Continental Shelf was the beach. People lived out there. Florida was no Sunshine State there, there was cold and windswept. They lived out there with mastodons in giant ground sloth s and giant armadillos, the kind we run over on the streets these days. Very different place. This book is about the 10000 year relationship between the gulf of mexico and people. Both golf siders and those who were connected to the gulf of barley way places. One fact i didnt mention is the result of the relationship between people and the environment is that the Worst Oil Spill in the us history occurred in the gulf of mexico. That of course was the 2010 bp disaster. Which, by the way, is not the worst environmental disaster at the golf gulf has suffered. Not even close. We can talk about that during q a if youd like. I began research on this book before the bp oil spill and initially, i didnt know how to put the history of the gulf of mexico together. I couldnt find the story that i thought should be told. Then the floating oil platform that none of us had heard of, exploded 40 miles out from louisiana. In april of 2010 and 11 people were tragically killed while many of us were reading in bed, oblivious to what was going on. Perhaps, ready to turn out the lights and maybe even thinking about the next day, being earth day. The very day that the people deepwater horizon sank into the gulf of mexico. For 87 nightmarish days that spring and summer, the spill dominated the news headline. No more put fish or birds escape this oil tied then could we humans. Without realizing it, the spill consumed the golf identity. It took it over. As gettysburg a borough in pennsylvania became the most famous president ial address in history, the oil spill, the gulf became the Worst Oil Spill in history. Even today, 70 years later, if you google gulf of mexico, just those three words, the oil spill will pop up to the top of the selection. So, the thing about the disaster is the disaster should not, define a place. A single event in a persons place doesnt define that person. So with this thought in mind, i now had a central objective that i could start with in writing this book. That was to reclaim the gulf identity. Its fuller, truer identity separate from the oil spill. Equally important, just as in a biography of a person, you write the biography from that persons life, my point of view had to come from the gulf. In other words, i wanted to bring readers into the story through the gulf of mexico. I also wanted gulf to take center stage. That meant standing before or at the very least, human subjects in human history. I wanted readers to see gulf as an agent as a force that shaped the huge and unfit human expense i believe nature does. The way i decided to bring this to the reesers was to organize chapters around natural characteristics of the gulf of mexico. Geography, climate, fish, birds, islands, estuaries, rivers, beaches and yes, oil. As i wasnt writing the book, two things happened that surprised me. One i increasingly realized that the origins of the book, the motion as well as the intellectual origins of the book , dated to my childhood and years of growing up in the gulf of mexico first in the fort up and handle and then down on the peninsula. I didnt know back then but my experience from catching a fish to hunkering down during a hurricane were preparing me for writing a biography of the gulf of mexico. Nobody had written a history of the gulf of mexico. I thought it was a privilege to be able to do this, to write about what i considered this wonderful feet. The other thing that happened was that when i was writing, the history open to me anyway that it seemed that it wanted to be written. Fiction writers often talk about the characters and stories taking over the writing, showing the author the way through until the end of the book. Thats what was happening to me in writing nonfiction in a way that did not happen with my previous books. Every day i sat down to write after i had my dark chocolate. [laughter] or while im having my dark chocolate, every day i sat down to write and every day brought a new discovery. It revealed new connections within the story with this boundless web, much like the web of life in nature, boundless web standing landscapes and time in between people and places, as i moved along through this web, i was using not only what i found and read in the documents but also what i heard, saw, smiled, touched, and even tasted as you taste the salt air. In my own experiences with the gulf, past and present, i wanted the sensory memories to come through in my writing. To inspire the writing but i also wanted to carry the writing , to shape, to guide it. When i looked through the documents which of course are the conventional materials of the historian, i try to get in touch, best i could, with the sensory experiences of the human , historical subjects i encountered. The various native people, the french, the spanish, the new englanders, the chicagoans, the new yorkers, as well as the gulf the gulf siders, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, and of course texas. As this larger story started emerging and as it was showing itself to me, it turned me in the direction of both nature writing and historical narrative. So i incorporated both in the book. I tried to weave the two together. I want to share examples of each in my readings today. Those of you who already have a copy of the book, if you feel like following along im going to start on page 185, which is Chapter Eight on birds. At dusk in april on the far southern shore of argentina, a bird standing in the surf ready to follow his instinct. Its a small bird, less than 2 ounces, larger than a couple slices of bread. Its a beacon straight and narrow and dark with a hint of orange. A flute that peeps and squeaks. Its belly is white and on top replacing winter grey plumage is snowy lovers waist with brown once. Pivoting the ted on a barely discernible neck for final preening, the bird reveals more white above the base of its tail. The white rum sandpiper has been in patagonia since december gorging on marine and vertebrates. Its reserved will that will consume to fuel, the sandpiper will rise on a 17inch wingspan nearly three times its body language. It orients its direction by the stars and draw us toward a destination it species has known for millennia. This bird is one of the pockets my graders in the world. By the time all is said and done , it will have flown 7000 miles staying aloft for up to 16 hours a stretch. The entire length of south america passes below for the first stop in venezuela. At the rest and replenishment, it begins traveling under starlet feeling with his companion each a mere foot apart beating wings over the western caribbean and the yucatan and without stopping, across the the gulf. When the sandpipers make landfall between texas and louisiana, they drop into a spitfire dive straight toward earth, steel in information and touch down gently at waters edge. For a week they will feed at the surf on marine worms, mullet and crustaceans before pointing their compasses north again. In spring 1915 an article in it newspaper article talked about crossing the the gulf is common knowledge. They insisted the aerial feet was beyond the animals capacity. When wells w cook of the Us Department of art egg larger surging survey kept scrupulous migration records, they stopped. They stopped even though they knew the writing in english horticulturist who in 1824 was joined on a scooter north of by hundreds of alighting birds migrating from the north side of the gulf of mexico to the coast of yucatan. They knew about large traders who 57 years later was pitching in a spring storm miles out from the mississippi when a hundred birds of two dozen varieties, warblers, catchers, swallows among them appeared out of the south and sought refuge on his vote. They knew about navy seaman who recorded crossing by land birds while patrolling the greater golf by the world were one. Audubon in correspondence spoke of golf passages including that of hummingbirds as accepted fact twice in the year, twice in the year a billion birds pass over the heads of doubting. [inaudible] modern science cracked the code of Nuclear Fission before it accepted the validity of a trans the gulf aviary execution. The site is set out to see who is right the believers or the doubters was George H Lowery junior. As a zoologist from Louisiana State university he hitched a ride on a norwegian freighter feeling out of new orleans in 1945. The ship steam directly across the epicenter of the gulf. He could not have been farther from sore when he spotted birds flying overhead at all hours of the day and night. He also identified 21 species of land birds they came aboard to rest. Once the freighter was perched on flat water near the yucatan he set up a telescope and observed filaments silently flinging across the moon. North, in the direction of louisiana. Fifteen years later when scientist began using the storm tracking radars to study bird migration, everyone was a believer. Ultimately, they learned that more than. [inaudible] species cleared the golf twice year. The c accommodates the mississippi and parts of the atlantic and central fly ways, three of north america sport migration routes. Their travelers are winged pilgrims in north america is their mecca. A joint where their ancient annual rituals ensure the future of their species. Among many others baltimore orioles, ruby throated hummingbirds, journey from central america, indigo american redstart from the west indies. Circling around the coast with just about double the distance, most birds fly direct. The yucatan peninsula is an ideal stadium platform and geographic for the my graders. They use it as a rest stop, munching on tropical insets in sipping on tropical blossoms and pervasive for the long haul. When the time comes, thousands rise unlike the sandpiper, take off when the stars come out. They will fly all night and into the next morning before landing in the northern golf, 2030 hours in the air depending on conditions. Theirs is the longest open water migration of land birds in the world. While theyre in flight, surface water currents prepare for their arrival by pushing seaweed a short, packed with scrumptious invertebrates. This is the weight nature works the sandpipers, plovers, and other surf birds will devour the provisions like the famished marathoners they are. The incoming members spring warmth has brought out insects and trees and scrubs, shrubs and last autumn leaf fall. Every april and may it seems as if the entire kingdom is endeavoring to gulf shores. Tens of millions arrive daily. Some will travel an extra 3040 mile leg to inland ports. Chimneys reps are usually the first to come in and hummingbirds soon follow. The migrants appear on every size, shape and color, plumage for the approaching numbers will season. They drop as a cascade out of the site as their wave breaks over the greenery until trees are inundated with noises and song. The feeding begins at straightaway without preamble. Without stretching or relaxing or preening. They refer to this phenomenon as a follower. In the american see they call it the golf express. Happy birds, john wrote during the short stay in 1967, its delightful to observe the assembly of the feathered people , gracefully taking their place that natures table. The the gulf assures have seen so many birds. Ocean waiting, surf and island birds, passes through, seasonal bidders affirming residence. It even comes the blue and the red throated moon, a meeting ground between temporary and tropical zones. [inaudible] docs, sparrows and hawks migrate no farther south than the golf. [inaudible] joining the infinite multitude that stayed around. In late july, my graders begin to feel the pull to return south their winter home and those that summered on the golf,. [inaudible] lee first as well as those passing from the north. Soon after the turn oyster catchers depart warblers by the tens of thousands from the northeastern. Summer, only a month or two out of the nest. None will stay long and the Barrier Islands are way stations for the retreating. [inaudible] all migration will stay until october the coming year when the seasonal airstreams tend to leave the birds along the eastern side of the gulf. The sandpiper shows up from the arctic in september, crossing hemispheres, it will soon be back in argentina. So, i wrote this book, not for my academic colleagues but for a popular or general audience or leadership. For readers like yourself. Most readers like their history to be laid out chronologically. So the chapters are organized around natural characteristics intend to be topical in nature. The book itself moves chronologically. Cover to cover from the geological origins of the gulf to the pretty much present. I was putting some things of the book as late as december 2016. And so, even though, the chapters are organized around natural characteristics, i use, there is wonderful human stories i use these human stories to drive the narrative through sizable parts of the chapters. When i was researching, but also when i was writing, many fascinating people presented themselves to me. I used them and their stories much like a fiction writer uses characters to thread together the narrative in each chapter. One of my favorite characters or subjects, human subjects, is or was Walter Anderson who is a central human figure in chapter 12 which is on islands. This is the next fit i want to read. More along the lines of historical narrative which starts on page 304. If anything i should point out that this chapter on follows two chapters on early oil exploration. I worked in this transition in the opening paragraph, that was the references to oil are all about. If anything was certain on the the gulf . If anything was certain on the the gulf, it was the inevitability of change. This was the understanding of Walter Anderson who had nothing to do with the oil industry, wanted nothing to do with the it and hardly ever used its product concept on his bicycle chain, a dab on his door lock, sometimes in his tank though he preferred working in watercolors. It is lifetime across the mid 20th century on the mississippi coast, living mostly in ocean springs, he saw a lot of change. He kept his eyes always a life to it. Mostly outside of the human influence though and the wind that pushed his ship to and from island, the form taking shape beneath the track and son. The conflict between us 15 seasons, new growth replacing old and scrub on the dunes. He once highlighted the word change in his log and said it was magical. For him the best place to be was on islands. Never did they have to compete with his attention, not even with his family. His wife agnes. [inaudible] was missing in action most the time. Each of the four children had been born. Patient and understanding by nature, sissy as agnes was known quietly accepted walters selfinvolvement is the fire and ice of artistic genius. Golf wildlife was his expected being. He needed to be with the subject to study them before he translated them into art. The Barrier Islands, those white sands of line as sissy call them , scouring the coast from mexico to florida. He wanted to know what kind, what current, built them up, the depth, what wins them up. The depth of how many animals, how many vegetables allowed the slow growth. What birds or waves or trees or grasses or seals. He painted it all. He was simply island struck. One particular barrier for each backyard preoccupied him more than most. The quote back of moby. It iran lengthwise to the mississippi coast and you got there only by vote and in anderson was captain ahab approaching the white whale except the island did not resist and anderson thought no vengeance. Aside from visiting art, he was unburdened by human habitation for about 30 years in the 19th century it had a lighthouse and keeper before a hurricane washed both away in 1906. A family that had lived there to having herds of cattle and hogs likely descendent of spanish transplants. The family left in 1920. The supporting life still existed and 60 inches of your fell every year sweeping lagoon lagoons. The island had one freshwater spring, Rabbit Spring named for its most abundant fauna. There were lots of raccoons and feral hogs, wild horses iran on the island until the military move them during world war ii. Waterfowl, songbirds were given. Vegetation was of the scrub variety, rosemary all exaggerated for lack of fire. Grew in the woods disturbed by neither timber worker nor developer, nearby island except oakes gathered is large numbers. The island was uninhibited too. Thats why anderson liked it. All of the fauna of horn island. [inaudible] he recorded in his journal. Mallard, great blue heron, rabbit. He named the raccoon, inky. From the end of the war until his death in 1955, anderson was a frequent visitor, stayed for a week or two at a time. When in residence, he regarded himself as natures quote privileged spectator. Anderson made the crossing and leaky skips of some vintage, borrowed from his brother or salvaged from a the gulf start. His budget and food and art supplies acute him and got a in a metal garbage can. My light little skiff was a cargo barge, i rode and bailed and rode and bailed. Beneath the salt stained workingman fedora he pulled as well as road. When the wind was up, he sailed catching it with nothing more than an old blanket rigged between mast. On good days across, he crossed in six hours. Hed leave around sunset which he called the magic hour of light and color and then become wrapped in the night when the wind was steady, when the stars were his guide. The moonlight water was like blue at times and apricots. He watched for spectacles of bioluminescence marine life in the sea and listen for the invisible flight of birds overhead. After the morningstar had danced with me on the water, the don came in the sun rose. On those morning when the first light arrived on the island together he would secure his vote, make a bet on the beach for the amber grasses and sleep until afternoon. He often look to, three, four birds on seven but weems burns, the most aerial of waterbirds waiting to snatch encouragement caught by some other avian party. He would sketch them with his long for tailfeathers giving them attention, what moved him. The beauty was they are and i had never seen anything more dramatic than. [inaudible] he was familiar with all the bird species of the island pelicans, first. [inaudible] he knew their habits and multiple stages of maturity. He knew that if he lifted the fledgling by its wing you are likely to break them. The islands expose them to many such realities, much death and dying. He accepted it all, including the risk to himself, snakebites, stingray, toxic burn of the deli fish, drifting of ocean currents for 500 years. Even the protected sound could turn against him. More than once a boater came a pound anderson quietly swimming offshore miles away. Sometimes the accepted offers of a tow, other he responded politely beneath soaking fedora with it, no thank you, ill make it in a timely tap to his brim. Solitude had no. [inaudible] [laughter] it was the same once he was on horn island. In 1955, he traveled to the sound in a green painted skiff on some hacker one, the day atlantic Storm Hurricane betsy pivoted west across florida into the gulf. Never again had there been a hurricane providing predictions, omens anderson had observed through his log. The awful sunrise that no one can fail to take a warning from it. The hovering black on the wind rose around the island and the sea tops hard across the beach, rescue vote with the coast guard came out to take him home. He knew his family had sent to help but he remained bunkered on the beach remained his overturned skiff, Island Shelter in powell or fairweather. Betsy entered the golf as a category four hurricane. Wind blowing around 150 miles an hour. If a storm would take anderson, so be it. He was a month shy of his 62nd birthday. Wildly talented, mentally sharp, reclusive and at times, stubborn he was where he wanted to be with the wind and the rain, thrashing see and the islands creatures. If you want to know what happened to him . [laughter] im not offering any spoilers here. So, one more fact i want to share with you before i close. Of the ten metropolitan areas most vulnerable to storm surges in the air of sea level rise, five are on the gulf of mexico. Three of those in the state of florida. As we face the eminent challenge of Climate Change, i think its important to keep in mind that looking back that defining a smarter way forward in his epic poem of the sea, t. S. Eliot wrote consider the future in the past with an equal mind. As im telling the story, here in this book, im trying to make a connection between the past and the present and the future. I hope this book becomes a useful history. With it i want to encourage americans, not just outsiders, but all americans because were all connected i want to encourage them to connect with the gulf and mutually find some way to remind them that we have this marvelous see in our backyard that is more than an oil, or sunny beach, its a c thats shaped our history, enriched our lives and its freely given to us. Indeed, weve taken much from it and thats okay but to continue doing so we have to give something back. Its not a lot. Its just our respect for what makes the gulf a living and getting a c and thats of course its estuaries, rivers, natural coastline and its diversity of life including us. Thank you. [applause] ,. [applause] do we have time for a q a . Do we have questions . No questions, dont want to spoil anything. Please go to the microphone. Will you pass it around . Thank you for your effort. Theres something about writers cramp. What have you learned that you can share with us about the writers cramp in writing, the physical effort effort, the joys , the sorrows, what would you share with us . First of all, i write on the computer. I no longer start with a pen. Theres also the possibility of personal tunnel syndrome. [laughter] i think the key thing is to remember that sitting is the new smoking and to take breaks. Brakes are a wonderful thing. The thought that you been trying to pull out of your head come to you, so taking a walk on occasion when you feel as though youre not, things arent flowing scraggly, get out and take a walk. I work out with my friend mary several days a week in the park, were in the outdoors and i use that as a break between my writing. I teach at the uso i get up in the morning and as they pointed out, i write for a few hours and then i have to prepare for classes and write my back bike to campus. The key is to take breaks. There are a number of writers with at this im not a believer in Writers Block because i think it there, its a matter of taking a break, working the other side of your brain. One thing cynthia didnt point out was that my neighbors and the duck pond, they only know about this me, i work on my house. When im doing so, i remodel. Its major work that i do. I build rooms, roofs, all that good stuff. But that works in other side of my brain and thats important too. Hemingway gets up in the morning and said he wrote for fourfive hours and then he would quit. He always quit in the middle when things are flowing well because that way he had something to start with when he came back. He wouldnt think about what he was writing for the rest of the day. Of course, how could he . [laughter] he would not think about what he was writing and had been writing about because he wanted his subconscious to work on it. When he sat down the next morning, at his readiness, it would be there for him. Is there a discipline that you have or that writers need . I do write every day. Even when i am on the road. In fact, i find some of my best writing is when i am on the road and when i change venues. If anybody knows me knows that im disciplined to a fault. Yes, i get up every morning and right, the dark chocolate, im lighting in the back in the bed, thinking about the dark chocolate waiting for me. Another thing i do, this is maybe tmi, but i drink 1632 ounces of water standing at the sink before i sit down to write. Then a half an hour later, im in the bathroom. [laughter] but thats a good place to think [laughter] i tell my students that you have to find your writing style and everybody has a different writing style. It will evolve over the years. The way i wrote this book is very different from the way i wrote my first book. Even into my second book. I started out with very rough outlines for each chapter, no way was that rigid and i was still exploring and doing research as i was writing and i let the writing guide me. It became such a pleasure as i said earlier, every morning i went and sat at my computer and there was a new surprise that motivating me. It made me a thrilling thing. John, do you want to go up there . Just get in line. My understanding is that one of the largest impacts of the oil spill was the fact that we stopped fishing for a long time. The fisheries had a chance to rebound. I havent read the book, honestly, and without trying to get away, your special secrets, what we do know about the gulf is the fisheries have been impacted tremendously. Are there any solutions . What a lot of people . Youre right, the fisheries were hit hard and they rebounded within twothree years. Summa struggled longer than others but they rebounded fairly quickly in nature will do that if you leave it alone. I dont pick your my question , on if you stopped fishing for a long time,. [inaudible] i think, death in part true. Fishermen would tell you thats exactly what happened. Fishing is indeed. [inaudible] the central problem is the destruction of the estuaries where the marine life is born. Weve done a really good job of destroying those estuaries. The key is to keeping those healthy. Leave them alone, and allowing them to be vibrant, quit dumping in Saint Petersburg florida there dumping raw sewage to a major estuary there and we have to stop that sort of thing. If we maintain healthy estuaries around the gulf of mexico, my guess is that for of the five the gulf states would not have been necessary. Again, yes, overfishing does occur but the impact wouldnt be as great if our estuaries were healthy. Thank you for sharing with us some of the passages from your book. The first one you read talked about the fact that it really is [inaudible] its an International Body of water and i was wondering if youd be interested in studying the historical processes that have happened from the southern the gulf coast, topamax go. Thats a possibility. As you point out, the five us states approximately one half of the the gulf coastline. Cuba and mexico sure the other half. I decided to focus on the five us states for a couple of reasons. One, the american interaction with the gulf of mexico exceeds that of mexico and cuba. The other reason is that i knew my audience would be americans and i wanted them to get to know this see as i said earlier beyond the beaches and beyond an oil spill. The other reason is 85 of freshwater flow running to the gulf of mexico comes out of the five us states. These wonderful estuaries that the the gulf has are concentrated around the states. The ecological character also dictated my decision to focus on the five us states. As far as going to mexico and cuba and writing about their part of the the gulf its an intriguing idea. I dont know that i do a full book but id like to do maybe some articles, id love to go down to cuba and write about the gardens of the queen which is this wonderful robust, very rare thriving, growing coral reef in cuba. Virtually all others in the caribbean are suffering. Any other questions . Yes, willa. [laughter] why is it not called the gulf of america since its the american seat . Stumped you there. [laughter] you know youll be on national tv . Youll know on her report card they would describe her as spunky. [laughter] well, thats because european nations named it before american came along. I do devote a sizable part of a chapter talking about the various identities imposed upon the gulf of mexico by various european nations. Unfortunately, a lot lot of the shrimp we buy from the stores and restaurants is imported from asia. 80 of domestic shrimp comes from the golf of mexico but the domestic shrimp is only a small part of the overall commercial shrimp industry in america or Shrimp Market in america. Whats unfortunate about the imported shrimp is that in many Asian Countries such as china and thailand, they are ripping out growers to grow shrimp, and studies have shown that the Economic Cost of ripping out not just the ecological but the Economic Cost of ripping out these man groves is greater than the return from those aquaculture farms. Im sorry, perhaps somebody else can answer that question better than i. Something like 85 of the food to the u. S. Dash. [inaudible] thats correct. Only minorities earn a small portion that comes from domestic waters. The figure i read was that was around 85 . I dont know where the best place to buy shrimp. Of of course for oysters we kno know, but i dont think it has a bright future, at least in commercial fishing. It is a town that has rediscovered itself that is a Cultural Arts community and its been wonderful in that regard but i think because of the battle of the chattahoochee river and the flint river, they run into, it runs down to the bay area. Because of the decadelong conflict over that, im sad to say i think the oyster industry is doomed. Over here. Yes. I have one question, but she inspired me to think of another one. While we celebrate the day and knowing all you know, is is there one area along the gulf coast where you are or you just fe feel like this is it. The first question, i dont know. I cant answer that. We are a quirky country. I have no idea why we dont celebrate him, in part because i think a lot of historians see him as being a bit of a phony, but thats never stopped us from celebrating people, right. I go on and on in the book about de soto or soto, Hernando Desoto and wondering why so many places and schools and everything in the world, including including a Record Company and an Automobile Division of chrysler, for 26 years was named after soto who accomplished absolutely nothing in his four years on the golf. At any case, your other question, i think there are a lot of places on the golf that will transport you. One of my Favorite Places is the florida big bend, another favorite place is padre island in texas which is one of the original islands of the gulf Island National seashore. If you visit padre island and youre not transported, there is something wrong with you. It is just this stunning, beautiful place that really draws you into the Natural Environment and louisiana coastal martians are astounding. Unfortunately they are disappearing with 10000 miles of oil and Gas Industries chopping them up and contributing to their erosion. What i like about the big bend is the marshes and kayaking out there. For those who live in popular places, kathy will attest to this, for de soto park down in tampa bay, its a beautiful beautiful place with beautiful beaches. You really cannot be the white beaches of the florida panhandle, the truly emerald waters. Its beautiful. Yes. What was the natural disaste disaster, the biggest Natural Disaster. The biggest Natural Disaster, how are you defining Natural Disaster question that thats always the question. I dont consider hurricanes Natural Disaster because we built in harms way. Probably the meteor and the crater, but, nobodys asked me the question of what is the greatest environmental disaster. Is that what youre looking for . Okay every day on the golf sees the bp oil spill. When you think about what comes down the river, what comes out of factories and Wastewater Treatment plants even today, and you think of the Engineering Projects all around the golf, the intercoastal waterway, the bridges, the jetties, you you name it they are all contributing to shoreline erosion, but its really the pollution, the golf of mexico runs across the front of louisiana, part of alabama, mississippi and part of texas 40 miles down into the golf and nothing can live in it. That happens every summer. Right here in florida we had a cellulose plant dumping into the river since 1954 when after the legislature designated it and industrial river, its pollution exceeds the oil spill. Its ongoing, even today. That river for 26 miles literally smells, it stinks and hardly anything can live in it. There is a mini ten square mile dead zone at the end of the river at the gulf of mexico. Every day, it takes commitment. It doesnt take a lot to reverse things and when you let the ecology, when you let nature be itself, it comes back dramatically in a short. Of time. Where does my home i. That little girl that asked me the question earlier, seriously, it is hard to have hope sometimes. We struggle with this because we are environmental riders and other environmental riders, you dont want to turn your audience often make them feel depressed. I am the book on a helpful note and thats with cedar key, with the aid of the state and the university of florida, theyve done a wonderful job of balancing the protected environment. Its its at the heart of this economy and the heart of creating good jobs. I think there is possibility. Hope lies with the people around the golf such as linda young and joyous l and many others who have devoted their lives to trying to protect the bays and the bayous and the beaches and the wildlife. My hope lies with them and there are lots of people out there who have had a profound impact. When kathy and i were growing up on the golf in the 60s and 70s, we didnt see a lot of bird life around tampa bay. Now you go down there because theyve cleaned up the bay, we are virtually wiped out because of raw sewage and the phosphate industry but the industry stepped up and the bird life there is phenomenal. I didnt see a wood stork until i was an adult. Now the place is just beaming with birdlife. When theres birds theres what, fish. And clean water and seagrass. Tens of billions of dollars. [inaudible] its unprecedented worldwide if you can call it that, the estuaries, sea turtles. [inaudible] in the billions of dollars combined with what you just said, i think theres a lot there. I think so too. I was almost about to get pessimistic but i will restrain myself but i think youre right. Thats the hope and a lot of those people have devoted their lives. We we have a number of people who have done that locally. This place wouldnt be as green as it is if not for the conservation track and there are Many Organizations across the gulf. Every bay has a handful of organizations. [inaudible] the origins, the gulf stream originates the gulf of mexico. That was one of the greatest findings other than florida was that he or at least his pilot discovered that the gulfstream and of course with Climate Change its under threat. The rising sea temperatures that the gulfstream could add eventually disappear and that would have a huge impact on marine life in the Atlantic Ocean and the caribbean. I dont know where i see it going. I hope it stays there. I hope we dont ruin it. I have two questions. First, what is considered the one thing you saw or inspired you to write this book, and i wondered is there any type of effort among the states to Work Together for ground preservatio preservation. I will answer your second question first in that is no there is not. There is some coordination, but it could be more efficient , and the coronation comes mainly at the grassroots or groundlevel and certainly coordination would benefit. That is why we are losing, in part, the bay estuaries because florida and georgia havent come to an agreement over waterflow. When the golf islands National Seashore was created, alabama had an option to join and they decided not too. There is a gap between mississippi and florida in the gulf Island National seashore. Its very hard. Scientists call it the wicked problem because there are multiple bureaucracies and multiple interests that are always involved in trying to fix something, restore something or resolve something. As far as your first one, there was not one single incident. Other than growing up on the golf and doing everything in the world that you can do on the water that was possible and living and seeing so much while i was growing up on the golf is what really inspired this book. Thank you again for your wonderful questions. [applause] if you are interested in books, you you can buy them back there. Proceeds go to the museum. Bring them appear and i will sign them, or if you already have a book, if you walked in with one, bring it up and i will sign it too. I will sign anything you put in front of me. [inaudible conversation] this weekend but tv on cspan2 features include the evangelicals, the struggle to shape america. Today at 5 00 p. M. Eastern with Pulitzer Prizewinning author Frances Fitzgerald talking about the evangelical movement in america. It occurred to me that it was perfectly impossible to understand the evangelical right without understanding its history, and because a lot of their doctrines, ideology, points of view make perfect sense in the context of the 19th century,. Elizabeth warren at 8 50 p. M. Eastern on the current state of the middle class. What can be done to revive it. Gina has worked for several years at walmart and i asked gina, after telling a lot about her life story about how she built and how careful she been, she still still thinks she is still middleclass. Gina said, i dont think there is a middle class in america anymore. If there was, i wouldnt have to go to the food pantry at the end of the every month. The life of president richard nixon, sunday at 345 eastern with author john farrell talking with david marinus. He was in the coverup to his neck and his loyalists have attempted over the years to try to say that dean ran the coverup or that they betrayed him. The tapes dont show that per the tapes show that right from the start he was going to play it rough the way they play appeared he was going to be tough and it was a terrible downfall. For more of this we can, go to book tv. Org. In 2016, the Oxford University press traveled around the world and asked librarians what was their favorite book. Here is a look at some of those titles. In north america, the titles included Stanford University practice of medicine professor abraham National Best seller, cutting for stone. Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 novel lolly willows. Elizabeth eaters the balance and eric larsons national National Bestselling account of a 1900 texas hurricane isaac storm. Here are some of the favorite books of international librarians. In south america, poet jose markeys the golden age. Spiritual leader collection of essays on the human spirit, no man is an island. In europe, for stump. In asia, harper lees Pulitzer Prize winning novel to kill a mockingbird. In australia, the memoir reckoning. Thats a look at the Oxford University press survey of some of the favorite books of librarians from around the world. [inaudible conversation] hello and welcome to the cato institute. I am millie eakins. I am a Research FellowResearch Fellow and i will be moderating todays book for him. We will discuss marks new