Michael Lawrence: How an Out-of-State Angler Can Fight for Florida Water

SOURCE: Google Drive doc 1Hcc8NmxKIa2CFh4CbputkfdZRTIdu4-CuiWG3D2YBf4 (EP_0491_How_2_Tuesday_-_Catastrophic_Tampa_Fish_Kill_Rallies_Out_Of_State_Angler), Deepgram Nova-2 transcript, 3,097 words total. FULL transcript embedded below (short-episode exception per V7 pipeline rules) with intro sponsor reads trimmed since sponsor content is excluded from CMS transcript per V6 body rules; conversation preserved verbatim. [00:01:47] Tom Rowland: Hey, everybody. Welcome to How 2 Tuesday this week. This week is a particularly important How 2 Tuesday because as everyone is aware right now, certainly the people that are listening to this show, we've had lots of issues with the water quality in South Florida. And a lot of people kind of put that aside and say, okay, well, that's for the people that live in the state of Florida. But one of the things that is really, really important is that everyone realize that they have a voice, that they have a part in doing something for the state of Florida, whether you like to vacation there, whether you ever plan on going to Florida, whether you ever have an intention of catching a bonefish or a redfish or a snook, you have a voice and you have an ability to actually do something. And we have the text thread, which is (305) 930-7346, that you can always get me for show suggestions, for guest suggestions, for questions, whatever. And Michael Lawrence reached out to me to talk about a show suggestion. And one of his show suggestions, which I thought was great, and that's what we're doing right now, is how an angler, how a person that likes the state of Florida, that's interested in the state of Florida, but doesn't live in the state of Florida, how they can make an impact on the water. So I wanna bring Michael into the show. Michael, welcome to the show, and thank you for this suggestion. It's really a fantastic idea. So why don't you give me a little background about you, how you kind of learned about the water issues in Florida and where you are and how you're making a difference? [00:03:38] Michael Lawrence: Well, thanks for having me on. I'm really honored to be here. It all started really with just me listening to podcasts about saltwater fishing, and I came across one of yours one day that was talking about Everglades restoration. And it intrigued me because I had just finished doing my first solo saltwater fishing expedition on the beach down in Alabama and caught lots of pompano and a 30 pound black drum, and I was hooked, man. The passion as an angler was there. And I'm listening to this podcast, and I just thought, wow, I can't let this happen. I don't care if I live in Florida or not. The reality is I love Florida. It's a unique place in the Everglades, meaning if it's unique, it's gotta be important to not just Florida, but the entire world. So I've gotta do something, and I started educating myself. And I think that's the number one thing — I started soaking up podcasts on this, whether it was watching Guiding Flow on Waypoint, which your show inspired me to watch too, listening to just other podcasts, you could just literally go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast and type in Captains for Clean Water and all kinds of episodes. So I started educating myself and learning about this. And I thought, okay, now that I've got the info, what's the first thing that I can do? Well, that's join Captains for Clean Water. And I think a lot of times, like you just said, people like myself are just regular guys working a corporate job, like to fish whenever they can and hunt whenever they can. Well, I don't know what I can do, I don't live there, I can't go down there every other weekend. Well, the first thing you can do is just join the organization. Take $30 and join. Once I did that, I get a little bit of that swag back, and the stickers and all of that become sort of a rallying point for me. So I show them to my daughter and her friends, and they're like, wow, these are cool stickers, dad, let's put them on the Yeti. They stick them on the Yeti, and I said, you wanna know what those stickers are about? Yeah. So we pull the pamphlets out, and I start showing them what everything is about with Captains for Clean Water. And my daughter's best friend said, my dad loves to fish, he would love to hear about that. Light bulb goes off. This is true grassroots. Let's just start talking to people. I think the third thing is — so you educate yourself, you join, you begin to organize your immediate group of friends, family members, or whatever. I'm in the business development business, so I'm constantly looking for ways to grow and expand our business that I'm in. Take that talent that god gave you and then turn it to something like this that you're passionate about and use the same skills that you do to build your business to help get the word out about Captains for Clean Water and Everglades restoration. So I started talking to my buddies about it. Had a conversation this morning with one of them — as a matter of fact, we're all anglers, they get it, they wanna join. The next thing that you have to do is continue to execute, I think, on that by getting bigger and better outside of the state of Florida. So don't stop with just telling people. Really rally around the folks that represent you and your state. So I'm from Kentucky. We've got two pretty powerful senators here, senator Mitch McConnell and senator Rand Paul. Don't just think that if you're from Wisconsin or North Dakota, maybe your congressman happens to be friends with somebody that represents Florida. You don't know. So get out there and just put your voice forward as if this was your backyard. That's kinda how I think about it. And I think there's a connection with anglers and hunters and just outdoor people in general, and we all feel the need for this to happen and to get better. Because if you go hiking in the Appalachian Mountains and you see trash, you just know this is wrong. And when I hear about Captains for Clean Water, it just resonates with me. This is wrong, it shouldn't be this way, and I wanna go down there and fish. Like I said this morning, my wife's ready to book a trip to Hawks Cay. So we gotta make sure this thing is working well so we can go down there and enjoy the fishing. So I think it all wraps up into those three things: education, information, organizing, and then executing, are the three things that I kinda keep my mind wrapped around when doing this. [00:08:35] Tom Rowland: Yeah, well, you know, kudos to you, because really the story and what we're trying to convey here is if you can do this from Kentucky, you can do it from anywhere, and anyone can do it, whether you're a kid, whether you feel like you just want to go to Florida one time, maybe you've never even been there, but it is super important. And Florida is all of our backyards, as is Alaska, as is Portland and all of these areas that you hear about, Montana with the water issues right now, all kinds of water issues. It unites all of us as anglers and hunters and people that like to be in the outdoors. And it is the backyard. I mean, it really is. It may be a thousand miles away from you, but there'll be one day that you wanna go there. And maybe it's been your dream to catch a tarpon or to catch a bonefish or to do something like that. And we need all the support we can get for these issues. And if you haven't listened to it yet, I did a podcast on the floor of ICAST with Bonefish Tarpon Trust, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and then also Captains for Clean Water. And we went into where the money goes and why an organization like Captains for Clean Water and Bonefish Tarpon Trust and Theodore Roosevelt need money from people that are in the state of Florida and from outside of the state of Florida. And it was an interesting conversation because I feel like maybe a lot of people that are outside of the state may think, well, what's my $30 gonna do? And if you're really interested in what your $30 would do, take a listen to that podcast. I really went into it with them — why should people give you their money, and what is it that they're getting out of that? And it goes into basically trying to navigate Washington as a fishing guide. I mean, that's what Captains for Clean Water is — a couple fishing guides, Daniel Andrews and Chris Wittman, that watch their area that they fish just have really bad water problems and decided to devote their life to it. So how do a couple of fishing guides navigate Washington? That seems really tough. That's where other organizations like Theodore Roosevelt come in that can help guide these people, these individuals that have mounted this very large voice. And everyone's money is very, very important to the cause. So whether you wanna get into this like you, Michael, and go a couple steps further and contact your congressman and really talk to your friends and make a difference that way, or you just wanna simply join an organization that is actually making a difference, those are a couple of ways that you can do it. So Michael, I wanna thank you for what you're doing, man. Do you have any plans to do anything else on this front? [00:11:44] Michael Lawrence: I do. I can't stop thinking about it. It is so ingrained in me for some reason. And I'll say this — my $30 is turning into probably another $220. Because the stickers, and it's so funny, but those little things like the stickers that spark two young ladies' interest are gonna get another dad who hunts and fishes here in Kentucky to spend his $30, and then he will go tell his buddies. And that will be another $30, $60, $90. Never underestimate the power of just one small thing like that. I think everybody has to understand that. So $30 doesn't sound like a lot of money, but when it multiplies simply by showing somebody what this thing is, all of a sudden it becomes way more than $30. One thing that I'm excited about — I'm gonna try to get the company that I work for, family owned company, I'm trying to convince them to help me get into this as well because they've got a little money and some opportunity for people that they know. I like to get into the schools and start with the young people. Seeing my daughter at 18 and her friends so excited about it, I think that's very critical, to talk about that, not only to get them to talk to their parents, but also inspire a generation of biologists and scientists and things of that nature. We're seeing so many kids go towards other things in their careers. It worries me that we don't have enough kids interested in environmental engineering and water quality science and fisheries biologists. So I'd love to get into a school or two, maybe our local school here, and talk about it. We got a lot of people that hunt and fish in the county that I live in. So I think that's gonna be my next step, is to maybe do a little informal discussion with the kids at school. [00:13:51] Tom Rowland: That would be really, really great, certainly to educate the kids on what's going on, but also it seems like a really good opportunity to show kids how the government works and that you do have a voice and how important your vote is. And when you vote for someone that believes strongly in an issue like this, that's what you vote for, like water — not Republican, not Democrat. You vote for who is paying attention to what matters the most to me in my heart. Is that — and it's the Florida water issues as well as many others. And which politician is going to make a difference there? Because we influence what they do by letters, by discussion, by talking. We are the ones that elect them. And if they are not representing what you want, you don't vote for them, and you vote for the one that does represent what you want. And that is ultimately how we make the biggest difference — that, and lobbies, and really educating and talking to as many people as we can. And then there's taking personal responsibility as well. In the state of Florida, a lot of what we're seeing certainly is a much bigger thing than what you choose to put on your lawn or what goes down the drain. But everyone does have a personal responsibility in fertilizer and different things that go down the drain. They're all important. And while you're writing your congressman, you can also take a look around and see, are you living in a way that is contributing to this, or are you living in a way that may be helping. And every little bit counts. But I wanna thank you for what you're doing. It means a lot to all the people in Florida to know that other people from other states are thinking and caring about the problem enough to do something about it. Because Florida has probably — I know they have tourism from every single state, from every single country probably, that's capable of traveling to Florida. There's a lot of people that go to Florida, and not all of them fish, not all of them hunt, not all of them bird watch, but a lot of them like to go to the beach. And if that beach is full of stinky fish, they're not going there. And that's another thing that is really, really important here — when you hear about the water issues in Florida, if you are somebody that likes Florida, another way that you can help here is to support Florida and support the economy of Florida, and go down there and go fishing with your fishing guide, and keep them in business, and keep them running the charters. Because if they go out of business, then who really cares about the water? Those are the people that care the most. Those are the people that are going to make the biggest difference. And yeah, you might have to fish a little different area than you normally do with those guys, but they're still catching fish. And despite the red tide and despite all of the things that are going on, they can find a place for you to fish. So I urge you to support the fishing guides, to support the state. Don't make your plans to go somewhere else. Go. It's great. And you can experience that for yourself as well, of what this red tide is and what these water issues are right now. And maybe that even submits the cause a little further into your mind. But Michael, thank you very much for all you're doing. Thanks for your information. It's a cool story, man. So I urge you to keep going. And when you start your chapter or you get in the schools or do whatever you're getting ready to do, I'd like to hear about it, and we'll have you on the show again. [00:17:55] Michael Lawrence: We'll keep you posted, man. Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it, dude. [00:17:59] Tom Rowland: Alright, thanks man. See you. [00:18:02] Michael Lawrence: Absolutely. Take care.