The problem of the environment is the extension of good housekeeping of the thinking woman.

Since 1972, Ive been going around making speeches on the Everglades. No matter how poor my eyes are, I can still talk. Ill talk about the Everglades at the drop of a hat. Whoever wants me to talk, Ill come over and tell them about the necessity of preserving the Everglades.

I'm just a tough old woman.

It is a woman's business to be interested in the environment. It's an extended form of housekeeping.

The miracle of light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slowly moving, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades. It is a river of grass.

The Everglades is a test. If we pass it, we may get to keep the planet.

The wealth of south Florida, but even more important, the meaning and significance of south Florida lies in the black muck of the Everglades and the inevitable development of this country to be the great tropic agricultural center of the world.