By Jona Silberberg

The Everglades National Park is located in south Florida, USA. It was established in 1947. It is the first National Park to be established to protect biological diversity, resources, and a fragile ecosystem. The Everglades are mainly swamp, and wetlands. Inside the park, over a thousand different animals found habitats and homes, including many endangered animals, like the Florida Panther, the American Crocodile, four different types of turtles, and the West Indian Manatee (whose status just moved up from endangered to threatened). Underneath the Everglades National Park, there is the Biscayne Aquifer. An Aquifer is a layer of rock that contains water. The Everglades was always a wet area, and people thought that this was wasted land, because they wanted to plant crops and plants. In the late 1800s, people already thought about draining the wetlands, so the entire Everglades, ruining habitats for over a thousand different animals. Around the early 1900s, people started to dig channels and canals, and some even tried to change the course of entire rivers to make the land suitable to grow crops. Before Europeans came, Lake Okeechobee, which is a little above south Florida used to overflow regularly, so all the water came down to the Everglades, which is why it was so wet. The farmers that came to plant their crops on the land drained away all the water, and used fertilizers on their land, so the clean freshwater from the Everglades soon became fertilizer-rich wastewater. As people drained away all the water, the Everglades shrunk dramatically, so in 1947, it was established a National Park. From then on, various organizations, including the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) have been working on restoring the Everglades. The US Congress has also been helping, by cutting the money that they were paying to farmers growing crops in the Everglades, and using this money instead to buy 126,00 acres of land to restore the natural flow of water in a part of the Everglades. The Everglades are slowly vanishing. They are home to thousands of different animals, many of which are already endangered and could become extinct if the Everglades vanish and if humans arent more careful. I am interested in the Everglades and preserving that habitat, because we (my family and I) were recently in Florida, and we visited the Everglades National Park, and other parks in that area that also protect the Biscayne Aquifer. I like nature, so I am interested in this topic. Generally, nature issues and problems interest me, and since I care about animals too, I do not want the Everglades National Park to disappear!

Have you ever been to the Everglades? Have you ever been to the Everglades? Well, I have. Do you care about animals? Well, I do. Would you care if thousands of animals would lose their home? Well, I would. The Everglades are slowly disappearing. We are using their water. We are ruining their homes. If we dont stop soon, they will vanish. The Everglades are slowly disappearing. We are washing the streets with their water. We are filling our pools with their water. If we dont stop, soon they will vanish. The Everglades are slowly disappearing. We, humans, people, persons, are taking their water, destroying animals homes. If we dont stop, soon they will vanish. Will the Everglades be there for our children to see? Well, I dont know.

The poem Have you ever been to the Everglades? by Jona Silberberg is a poem about how humans are slowly destroying the Everglades, a National Park in South Florida. In the poem, there are two major poetic devices, repetition and rhetorical questions. First, there is repetition in this poem. Repetition is when a word, phrase or line is repeated throughout a poem. In this particular poem, various lines are repeated throughout. The line the Everglades are slowly disappearing is repeated twice, the same as if we dont stop, they will vanish. This is effective, because it underlines the importance of this sentence. It is emphasizing the point that we are ruining the Everglades. Also, the word we is repeated several times in the poem. This also emphasizes that it is us humans that are making this damage. Next, there are rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is a question that isnt meant to be answered. In this poem, there are various rhetorical questions. Have you ever been to the Everglades? is an example of a rhetorical question in this poem. The reader is not supposed to answer this question literally. It is answered in the next line with Well, I have. There are many different examples of rhetorical questions in this poem, like Do you care about animals?, which is also answered right after with Well, I do.. This is effective because it helps the reader think more about what they are reading, and how it connects to actual life. Maybe the reader has heard about the Everglades, or has actually been there, and so the reader could think about these things while reading the poem.

As a song that links to my poem, I chose Down by the River by Albert Hammond. These are the lyrics to the song: City life was gettin' us down So we spent the weekend out of town Pitched the tent on the patch of ground Down by the river Lit a fire and drank some wine You put your jeans on the top of mine Said, come in the water's fine Down by the river Down by the river Down by the river Said, come in the water's fine Down by the river Didn't feel too good all night So we took a walk in the morning light Came across the strangest sight Down by the river Silver fish lay on its side It was washed up by the early tide I wonder how it died Down by the river Down by the river Down by the river Silver fish lay on its side Down by the river Doctor put us both to bed He dosed us up and he shook his head Only foolish people go, he said Down by the river Why do willows weep, said he Because they're dying gradually From the waste, from the factories Down by the river Down by the river Down by the river Why do willows weep, said he Down by the river In time, the river banks will die The reeds will wilt and the ducks won't fly There'll be a tear in the otter's eye Down by the river

The banks will soon be black and dead And where the otter raised his head Will be a clean white stone instead Down by the river Down by the river Down by the river Will be a clean white stone instead Down by the river This song is linked to the poem Have you ever been to the Everglades? about the Everglades destruction in Florida because they are both about humans destroying nature. This song is about a place out of town where it used to be nice and clean. Then, when humans came and built factories, the environment got damaged From the waste, from the factories. This is similar to what happened in the poem Everglades. In that poem, the humans used the water and resources and took it away from nature, to make it better for them, just like in the song. The song is also about everything that was affected by this, The reeds will wilt and the ducks wont fly. So the song Down by the River is linked to the poem Have you ever been to the Everglades? because they are both about humans destroying nature, and how everything else is affected by it. The song Down by the River and the poem Have you ever been to the Everglades? both have the same message: Dont only think about yourself, but also care for your surroundings. The poem ends with a question: Will the Everglades be there for our children to see?, and the narrator, answers with Well, I dont know. This ending tells the readers that we cannot take our surroundings as granted, but we must do something to protect them, other wise we are going to lose them. In the song, nature was destroyed from the waste, from the factories. Here the environment has already been severely damaged. So both the song and the poem have the same message, we must care about our environment, or we are going to lose it.

About the Author: Jona R. Silberberg was born 2000, in Wellington, New Zealand. She has lived in many places in the world and has travelled to many others. Currently, she is living in Brooklyn, New York. She has two older brothers, Jakob and Julian. All three are going to UNIS, the United Nations International School in Manhattan, New York. She has lived in New York since 4th grade, and is currently attending 7th. She cares about nature, is a member of ESO (Endangered Species Organization) and every National Park that she goes to, she does a Junior Ranger Program. She currently holds 16 badges.

Bibliography: http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-marine-habitat-destruction/ http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/ http://animals.about.com/od/zoologybasics/a/animalsenvironment.htm http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/76 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Everglades http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/groundwater/index.htm http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/everglades-national-park/ Lonely Planet Miami & the Keys