Making a difference in the fight for the Everglades means taking one fast, concrete action: contacting your senators and asking them to support clean water legislation for Florida. It takes about a minute. In this How 2 Tuesday, I sit down with Daniel Andrews of Captains for Clean Water during a water-quality crisis of toxic algae and red tide, and he walks through the single most effective thing any of us can do. You do not need to know the bill number or who your officials are. The tool does the legwork. You just send the message.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
The single most effective action is to go to captainsforcleanwater.org, find the take-action banner at the top of the home page, enter your contact information, and send a prewritten message to your senators. It takes about a minute. You do not need to know the bill name or who your elected officials are, because the tool figures all of that out and routes the message to the right office. Daniel Andrews calls this the most important request he can make of anyone who cares about Florida's water, and I agree.
Daniel Andrews is a co-founder of Captains for Clean Water, a fishing-guide-led organization fighting to restore clean water flow to the Everglades and stop the damaging discharges from Lake Okeechobee. On this episode he is the person I go to for a clear answer on how listeners can actually move the needle. The group uses targeted-action software to connect concerned citizens directly with the elected officials who can advance Everglades restoration legislation.
Because the bill in question was stuck in the Senate, and the two Florida senators already understood the urgency. The senators who needed convincing were the ones outside Florida. When a senator receives fifteen or twenty thousand messages from constituents, it signals that a lot of Americans care about this issue, and it pushes that senator to walk the halls and talk to colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Engagement from across the country is what moves a stuck bill forward, which is why this is not only a Florida problem.
At the time of this conversation, toxic blue-green algae had spread from the headwaters of the Caloosahatchee at Lake Okeechobee all the way down the river, and through the Saint Lucie River on the other coast. It reached around Sanibel and Pine Island Sound, and it was compounded by a red tide that started offshore and pushed into the estuary. The result was record amounts of dead sea life, a human health issue, and a quality-of-life issue for everyone who lives near or fishes that water.
About a minute. Daniel says two minutes to be generous, and I think a minute is closer to the truth. The form is mobile friendly, so it works on an iPhone or Android, and it lets you review the prewritten message before you send it. The letter is polite, not aggressive. It simply explains what is happening in Florida and how the senator can help. You enter your information, review, and hit send, and it routes automatically.
Yes. Over the few weeks before this episode, the campaign sent almost fifty thousand emails to the Senate. As a result, senators and their staff reached out to Captains for Clean Water to stay updated on the process, and the volume of messages showed how engaged the membership is. When an office receives only a couple thousand emails, it is easy to ignore. When it receives fifteen or twenty thousand, the issue gets attention and stays on the radar. Volume is what keeps the pressure on.
Here is exactly how to take action, the way Daniel laid it out on the episode.
Daniel and I talk through why each step matters in the episode. Press play in the player above.
I do not say this lightly. This may be the most important How 2 Tuesday we have ever done, and maybe the most important episode I will ever put out. Most of these tutorials are about a skill on the water. This one is about whether there is clean water to fish at all. When Daniel told me the most effective thing any of us can do takes a single minute, I knew it needed its own episode. I explain why it hit me that hard in the conversation, so press play in the player above.
Daniel told me that in the weeks before we spoke, the campaign sent nearly fifty thousand emails to the Senate, and the response was real. Senators and their staff reached out to stay updated, and the sheer volume proved how engaged the membership is. He explained the difference between an office receiving a couple thousand messages and one receiving twenty thousand, and why that gap decides whether your issue gets ignored or gets walked down the hall. He breaks down exactly how that pressure works in the episode, so press play in the player above.
If you have been looking at the pictures of dead fish and toxic water and wondering what one person can possibly do, this is the answer. You can do something real in about a minute, and it counts. The tool removes every excuse. You do not need to be an expert or know the politics.
Go to captainsforcleanwater.org, send the message, and then forward it to one person who cares about Florida's water. That is the whole ask, and it matters more than almost anything else I share on this show. Press play in the player above and then go take action.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
Daniel Andrews · Captains for Clean Water · the Everglades · Lake Okeechobee · Caloosahatchee River · Saint Lucie River · Sanibel · Pine Island Sound · blue-green algae · red tide · clean water legislation · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to conservation and the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
Subscribe to get the latest episodes, show notes, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.