Stop The Burn
Our Campaign
Our movement is led by residents directly impacted by pre-harvest sugar field burning. Stop the Burn activists and leaders live in Palm Beach, Glades, Martin, and Lee counties. Our campaign officially began in 2015, and since then a dedicated core of community leaders has used the power of their voices to shine a spotlight on the injustice of pre-harvest sugarcane burning. Their advocacy has shone a national spotlight on what was once a little known regional issue. By speaking truth to power local leaders are applying pressure on both the sugar industry and their regulators in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The goal is to end the injustice of pre-harvest sugar field burning now.
Speaking Truth to Power
“Where There’s Smoke”
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Steve Messam Opening
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Christine Louis-Jeune
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Elaine Lavallee
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Jody Young
10/1/22 Dane Myers Live Performance
5/26/22 Clean Water Conversations: The Last Burn Season
4/5/22 Clouds of Different Colors Premiere Press Conference
9/30/21 WE DESERVE BETTER: Activists Call Out the Complicit
5/20/21 Dr. McCarthy Air Quality Report Virtual Press Conference
10/28/20 Radar: Sugar Harvest Smoke Harming Communities
8/27/20 Friends of the Everglades Stop The Burn Webinar
Colin Walkes Palm Beach Post Interview
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Colin Walkes
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Robert Mitchell
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Kil’Mari Phillips
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Kina Phillips
10/1/22 We Deserve Better Rally – Closing Remarks
4/30/22 Webinar: Big Money, Racism and Sugar Cane
3/29/22 Mike Steel Podcast: Stop The Burn Go Green
Poem by Robert Gibbons: Stop the Burning of Sugar Cane
1/30/21 Belle Glade Green Harvesting, Kina Phillips interview
11/7/20 Muck City BLM Press Conference Stop The Burn Cut
05/06/20 Kina Phillips Poor Peoples Campaign Address
11/23/19 Kathey Sullivan Testimonial
11/23/19 Belle Glade Protest
4/18/19 Florida Poor People’s Campaign Hearing in Belle Glade
8/26/18 Forgotten City – Fearless for Florida
4/17/17 Belle Glade Press Conference
8/20/16 Kina Phillips Big Sugar Summit II Speech
4/6/21 HB 1601 press conference
Dr. Jessica McCarty Presentation HB 1601 Press Conference 4/6/21
Colin Walkes testimony 4/6/21 Press Conference
Rep. Eskamani Testimony 4/6/21 Press Conference
Shanique Scott testimony 4/6/21 Press Conference
Robert Mitchell Testimony 4/6/21 Press Conference
Rep. Hardy Closing & reporter questions 4/6/21 Press Conference
Join The Fight
If you are directly impacted by pre-harvest sugar field burning we want to hear from you. If you are safe from the dangers presented by pre-harvest sugar field burning but want to join the growing number of allies around the state to fight for environmental justice in and around the Glades , please join our movement.
“I think that a voice is very, very powerful. People that are silent don’t sit at the table and speak their voices, they will never get fed. Changes will never be heard. People will still continue the same thing that has been continuing for generations to come. I’m speaking out and encouraging other people to have a voice. I’m also encouraging other people to not operate in fear and feel as though you can’t say anything because you have to accept things as the way that they are. That’s not the truth. You don’t have to accept it. And people need to understand just how powerful they are. And how more powerful they are when we all come together as one united front, fighting for justice.”
– South Bay resident, Kina Phillips
Other ways to help
- Contact Congress to let them know Toxic Sugarcane Field Burning Must Be Addressed in the Federal Sugar Program: Take Action Here
- Submit a Guest Editorial or Letter-to-the-Editor to your local paper
- If you are impacted directly by a sugarcane burn, call your local Florida Forestry Service Division and make a formal complaint
- In Palm Beach County (954) 453-2800
- In Hendry County (239) 690-8001
- In Martin County or Glades County (863) 467-3221
- Contact us to submit a testimonial for inclusion on our website
- Use your purchasing power and buy certified organic sugarcane which comes from green harvested sugarcane.Like, Follow, and Share our social media pages:
Or you can donate to support our campaign efforts here.
Campaign Photo Gallery
Big Sugar Pushback
Photo-shopped billboard photo shared by sugar industry front group “SAFE Communities” on social media (there is no actual billboard).
Postcard #1 sent out to Glades residents in response to our campaign activity.
Postcard #2 sent out to Glades residents in response to our campaign activity.
The sugar industry has formed a counter-campaign front group under the banner of “S.A.F.E Communities” in response to our grassroots movement for environmental justice. The front group has attempted to frame our campaign as an anti-farmer conspiracy aimed at putting the sugar industry out of business. Rather than substantively addressing the real suffering and indignity pre-harvest sugar field burning has caused residents in and around the Glades, the front group has callously denied pre-harvest burning is tied to any negative impacts. Resources that could have been spent investing in a transition to green harvesting have instead been spent on insulting the intelligence of those who know first hand how damaging pre-harvest burning has been to their quality of life, their pocketbooks, and their health. Big Sugar has wasted their money on mailers, phonebanking, and even television commercials; every new scare tactic they use brings more activists to the Stop the Burn fight:
See more propaganda mailers here.
Big Sugar claims the Stop The Burn Campaign wants to put them out of business
Our campaign is about pushing the sugar industry to become a better neighbor to the communities in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area by ending the toxic outdated, and unnecessary practice of pre-harvest sugar field burning. Sugarcane harvesting can be and is being done in a much more sustainable fashion than the Florida sugarcane industry currently practices. The economic utilization of sugarcane trash can generate new sources of revenue for the Florida sugar industry, create new jobs for the surrounding communities, and end the public and environmental health threats posed by burning. Our solution is a true win-win-win!
If we are successful, the sugar industry will extract more value from their crops and provide more, not less, sugar industry jobs. Accusations that Sierra Club put the Hawaian sugar industry out of business are completely false:
Litigation in Hawaii related to a coal-fired power plant operated by Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, it had nothing to do with sugar burning. See details here.
The Hawaiian sugar industry announced the closing of its operations prior to the suit even being resolved. The industry was much less profitable than the Florida sugarcane industry and had been losing profits for decades which led Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar’s parent company to switch to real estate holdings. See here.
There was widespread public opposition to pre-harvest sugar field burning in Hawaii but rather than investing in a transition to green harvesting, the Hawaiian sugar industry chose to pursue profits in real estate.
Big Sugar’s second favorite mantra is that the air in the Glades is clean
Despite the wide array of air pollutants released from pre-harvest sugar burning, there is currently only one official state-run air quality monitoring device located in the entire Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). That one monitoring device measures for only one pollutant, PM2.5, and is registered as non-regulatory; that means it does not meet standards required for its data to be used to determine compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). See page 20, table 4.2 here.
The accuracy of air quality monitoring devices can be affected by meteorological conditions that prevent accurate readings. Air quality ranking systems that rely on annual average PM2.5 measurements, such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation rankings, can miss important short term fluctuations in air quality as is the case with pre-harvest sugar burning that takes place only on a seasonal basis: See measure limitations here.
Air quality monitoring in the Glades does not provide an accurate prediction of the pollution residents downwind of sugarcane burning are actually breathing. Air quality data rankings that pool data from the singular non-regulatory air quality monitor in the EAA is not reflective of the seasonal air pollution caused by pre-harvest sugar field burning.
Florida sugarcane not suited for green harvesting?
Sugarcane growers in Florida have often claimed green harvesting is not suited for Florida’s climate and soils or that accumulated sugarcane trash will increase, pests, diseases, and reduce yields. They also exaggerate risks of potential wildfires being caused from sugarcane trash. These claims have not been supported by research from the University of Florida IFAS research on green harvesting that has found no difference in yield between burnt or green harvested sugarcane let alone increases in pests or diseases (see here).