| We held our
2004 annual meeting of the general membership of
Last Stand January 20 at
NOAA's Nancy Foster Environmental Center, on the Truman Waterfront
in Key West. 128 members and guests braved the cold to be
there. A short business meeting, during
which the 2003 Board of Directors was unanimously re-elected for
2004, was followed by an award presentation by our President, Amy
Lachat Lynch. It was our pleasure to award Key West City
Commissioner Carmen Turner Last Stand's
Most Enlightened Elected Official of 2003 award.
It's not an award we give every year, but Carmen earned it, by
consistently being a voice of reason on the city commission, and
voting time and again for what we feel is the community good.
Carmen received a well-deserved standing ovation from the assembled
throng. |
|
Carmen Turner, Key West City
Commissioner, admiring "Most Enlightened Elected Official 2003 award
just presented to her by Amy Lachat Lynch, Last Stand's President.
|
Commissioner Carmen Turner
thanking Last Stand for the honor, and
thanking our members for our contributions toward environmental and
quality-of-life issues. The inscribed brass plaque is mounted
on a beautiful hand-finished slab of Mother-in-Law's Tongue wood. |
|
|
Cruising Out of Control
Our featured guest and keynote
speaker was Professor Ross Klein, noted author of
Cruise Ship Blues - the
Underside of the Cruise Industry. His unambiguously
titled book, and his talk, reveal things about cruise ships that the
industry would rather passengers didn't know and that people in port
cities didn't think about. Things like where the trash and
waste go, where the money goes, and in some ways more pointedly...
where it doesn't go. |
Ross Klein, PhD, cruise fan/critic
and author of Cruise Ship Blues - the Underside of the Cruise
Industry, speaking at Last Stand's 2004 annual meeting. |
|
128 members and guests of Last Stand
braved wintry (well, for Key West, that is) weather to hear Ross
Klein's talk "Cruising Out of Control", highlighting some things the
industry would rather people didn't know. |
In some areas of the US,
most notably Alaska, port cities are progressive and aggressive in
regulating the cruise industry, and are taking steps to ensure port
cities get a fair shake, and that ship wastes are dumped farther
from shore than the minimal federal guidelines. Mr. Klein
reports that Florida ports are among the least progressive in
addressing the industry's impacts and in negotiating better terms
from the highly-profitable industry. |
|
Ross Klein's talk was followed by a reception and
chat session with food and drink. |
|
