The Nature Coast Coalition strives to unite communities and organizations along Florida's Nature Coast to protect these last, best places in our state. Help us share information and resources that help us work together to conserve our natural heritage.
While riding out to Yankeetown last week, I traveled down the part of SR40 named for the 1962 Elvis Presley movie once filmed there, Follow That Dream.
Indeed, many of us came to Florida, the land of sunshine and the land of dreams, with an image in mind of the classic Nature Coast Florida scene that you see below. 
I took the above picture on Follow That Dream Highway on a bridge looking northwest. In the very same spot, if you turn around and look to the south, this is the other startling image you will see:
The juxtaposition of these images strikes me as the stark choices we have today. As we keep in mind the nature and land we want to protect, hopefully that will encourage us to fight for a responsible energy plan in Florida that emphasizes efficiency and renewable energy over oil and gas drilling off our coasts. The pressures facing us are huge: as more plans for nuclear plants in Levy county unfold, Tarmac presses on to develop 5400 acres of limestone mining near our coasts. Both projects put our drinking water and community at risk in different ways. To me, our choices show the difference between following the dream of a safe and clean Nature Coast versus letting a bad dream slowly and irreversibly unfold.
Darden Rice is the Florida Project Director for Gulf Restoration Network
