"Please allow me to eat humble pie...with all the others who thought that trying to stop the Cross Florida Barge Canal was akin to one of Don Quixote's impossible dreams."
-Herbert Kale II, a noted ecologist in a commendation of Marjorie Harris Carr
My readers know I'm not much on biographies. So how did I come to select this one? The simple answer is the subject's name is Marjorie and she is an environmental hero of mine. Now for the more complete answer:
Several years ago I took on a cameo acting role of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of the Pulitzer-winning The Yearling. Through this portrayal I became very interested in Rawlings, who did her best work while living in Florida and using it as a setting for many short stories and novels. At some point during this time I became interested in Marjory Stoneman Douglas, known as the "Guardian of the Glades," probably due to my fondness for Florida history and curiosity about environmental issues. The more I read about Douglas (The Everglades, River of Grass and Voice of the River, her autobiography) the more I found myself drawing comparisons to Rawlings, the other Florida Marjorie. More recently I came across another Marjorie---Marjorie Harris Carr, who led the fight to stop the Cross Florida Barge Canal, a huge environmental fiasco. I read Ditch of Dreams, subtitled The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida's Future by Steven Noll and David Tegeder, a year or so ago and although credit was given to Carr for being a real force in the anti-canal movement, it left me wanting to know more of her story. So when I saw this biography at the Marjorie Rawlings Society conference I happily purchased it.
Marjorie Harris Carr became a scientist at a time when she had to fight for the right to study the "hard sciences" which were thought to be too intellectual for a female mind! Her story is inspiring as she struggles to succeed in a male-dominated world. She would even use that prevailing chauvinism to her advantage by calling herself a "poor little housewife from Micanopy" in something of sneak attack on the proponents of the canal.
Her early activism consisted of fighting to stop highways that would harm the environment in North Central Florida and in efforts to preserve Paines Prairie, now a state park. Some of this work she led through her membership in the Gainesville Garden Club and the Alachua Audubon Society. She believed there was strength in numbers and inspired groups like these to help in the fight. Later she would co found Florida Defenders of the Environment and also appeal to local and national media to fire up more citizens. Of course, it helped that she had married Archie Carr, a University of Florida professor, sea turtle expert and a renowned environmental activist in his own right. The Carrs came to be called the "dynamic duo" in ecology circles.
Marjorie first got into the Barge Canal battle in just trying to save the Ocklawaha River which was near her home and involved in the route of the canal. She worked for 35 years to save the river and stop the canal, even being called "Our Lady of the Rivers." She lived to see the deauthorization of the canal but not the restoration of the Ocklawaha. She died in 1997 but efforts to restore the river are ongoing. After her death the Cross Florida Greenway which had been built along the proposed canal right-of-way was renamed the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.
A couple of things I learned that surprised me were that Nixon was quite the environmental president in his first years in office. He signed the Endangered Species Conservation Act and established the Environmental Protection Agency, and was the one to stop the building of the Cross Florida Barge Canal by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1971. Also, it was interesting that in the 1950's the conservation movement meant saving nature pretty much for man's use. By the next decade, environmentalism came to the forefront and focused on saving nature for its own beauty and value.
I would give this book a 5. It definitely is not for everyone but if you like knowing more about Florida history and strong female leaders, you may enjoy it. Marjorie Harris Carr was smart, persistent, determined, creative and optimistic about her mission. An article about her in Christian Science Monitor was titled "The Housewife Who Roared."
Now I can get started on my Three Marjories of Florida project!
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