FGCU students join movement to clean Florida waters

Three Florida Gulf Coast University students joined the fight for clean water in Southwest Florida.

Cooper Kennedy, Jessica Miller and Ashlynn Reynolds produced a video as part of a classroom project after hearing the local grassroots organization Captains for Clean Water speak at their fishing club on campus. "I personally already knew about the problem," Kennedy, a Southwest Floridia native, said of his understanding of the water troubles brought on by Lake Okeechobee water releases. "I've noticed the problem all my life."

For Miller, her future career helping marine animals depends on a permanent solution to the Everglades restoration. "[There are] animals, fish, plants, and organisms you cant find anywhere else on the planet. They only live in the Everglades," Miller said about the need to resolve the issues with water across the state.

Reynolds brings perspective from Fort Pierce, as an east coast Floridian who grew up on the water. "All the beaches in my hometown are closed down because of this issue," she said. "I know people from my hometown [think] this is only a Fort Pierce issue, that it's local. It's not. Lake Okeechobee is huge."

For their collaborative project, they chose to focus on the water problem in south Florida, at a pivotal time for the group they're supporting, Captains for Clean Water, as the implementation stages of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir move forward.