Over spring break I went up to my hometown in Baltimore. Since the break was only a week long I flew out of RSW. I’ve flown out of this airport many times in the two years I’ve lived in the Fort Myers area, generally at night. However, when I left here for break my flight took off at 10:00 in the morning. I don’t know if on all the other occasions I’ve flown if the sky was cloudy or if maybe the lighting was just too dim to see the ground, but on this occasion something struck me as odd.
When I looked out the window I saw all the roads, houses, and various structures arranged in a grid like format; this view is to be expected. What I didn’t expect to see was the dispersal and level of water. While I’m not a Florida native, I was still aware of the fact that Florida exists at sea level, and that the area in which we live is naturally supposed to be a murky bog, or so-to-speak. However, for some reason the implications of these facts never registered in my mind.
As I was gazing out the window all I could think was, “Wow, I bet all of this is going to be under water some day.” It is hard for me to accurately describe the bewilderment I felt taking in southwest Florida from an aerial view. The airplane’s cruising altitude gave me a new perspective. My colloquium teacher had explained how hurricanes and global warming could cause temporary, and in the later case, permanent flooding. Yet, in my mind these possibilities were a distant and somewhat disconnected reality. I don’t feel that way anymore. It’s cliché: but seeing is believing.
Next time you fly out of RSW or any local airport, take a good look at the landscape. It’s really a breath-catching experience to see our town seemingly held at the mercy of the water, which by some miracle hasn’t submerged us already.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I'm glad you had the chance to experience something like this. It is very scary to think Florida will be completely under water one day. This is part of why I chose my blog topic on eco-friendly things. When you can look down from plane view and see your home and then imagine it being submerged in water then you wonder how you can avoid it at all costs.
Yes I saw this last summer when I flew to Mississippi. Florida was in the middle of a drought if you remember and from above it looked it. Yet when you looked at the Gulf and Atlantic almost dwarfing the pennisula it was sobering. Then I flew into MS what struck me most was how GREEN the entire state looked from above.
Post a Comment