Inside The Slowly Disappearing Everglades
A stretch of the Kissimmee River, Fla., is shown Thursday, July 5, 2007. Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the Everglades and a backup drinking water source for millions, hits a new record low almost weekly. It's main artery, the Kissimmee River starting near Orlando, hasn't flowed south in more than 240 days, depriving the lake of 50 percent of its water. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
A stretch of the Kissimmee River, Fla., is shown Thursday, July 5, 2007. Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the Everglades and a backup drinking water source for millions, hits a new record low almost weekly. It's main artery, the Kissimmee River starting near Orlando, hasn't flowed south in more than 240 days, depriving the lake of 50 percent of its water. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES is one of the most unique natural resources in the world, with an abundance of wildlife found nowhere else. It also soaks up carbon dioxide from the air better than major rainforests around the world, researchers say.

But it is slowly disappearing, and has been for more than a century. Today, the Everglades is about the size of New Jersey — half the size it once was.

Much of the damage has been caused by humans through water diversion, population pressures, and agricultural run-off. But there are more subtle forces at work, including the growing effects of climate change.

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