(Note from Erin: I personally would especially avoid non-organic sugar or any food items with any sugar in them.)

The call to boycott big sugar is spreading like wildfire across social media. Especially here in Florida where we are doing our best to raise awareness. (We’ve been writing about the damage they are doing to our water for years.) In fact, shoppers “as far as Texas are putting up signs near sugar products in stores, snapping photos, and sharing them on social media.” 1

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Although some experts are struggling to figure out what’s causing the toxic algae, environmentalists have been talking about agricultural runoff going into Lake Okeechobee. (Again, for years.)

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Representative Francis Rooney, who lays some of the blame with big sugar, said maybe a boycott wasn’t so bad, “We need to get the EAA Reservoir built and there’s a role for sugar to play in that. Sugar has been deeply involved in both obstructing efforts to move water south and involved in the phosphorus sequestration that the state made them do.” 2

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When pressed, U.S. Sugar claimed sugarcane farmers have nothing to do with water releases and instead blame excessive rainfall and Lake Okeechobee’s failing dike.

Sources and References

  1. NBC 2 News, August 8, 2018.
  2. NBC 2 News, August 8, 2018.