We made our first trip to Florida’s Gulf Coast last weekend — and boy, were we impressed.

Sanibel rocks. Doesn’t it? The white sand, the shelling, the shopping and restaurants were awesome.

Equally as impressive was what we didn’t experience.

The red tide that decimated the Gulf Coast for more than a year — and, for a briefer time, our Atlantic coastline — seemed to have abated. Beaches were full; I’m prone to respiratory issues but had none.

If I was relieved, think of how business owners along the Gulf Coast must feel.

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Indeed, our tour guide at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge said during the teeth of the crisis, local hotels/lodging had an 80 percent cancellation rate. Visitors who did come simply hadn't done their homework and didn’t know anything about the red tide until they arrived and got a lungful.

Our guide (on the job because while the preserve is federal land and was shut down, a private operator runs the tours) talked of how uncountable fish and other marine life washed up on the shores, dead.

It was, he said, an “ecological disaster.”

Think about that term for a moment. “Ecological disaster.”

Now think about the fact Florida has a new governor who has a chance to do something about it.

Indeed, after his inauguration Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis will have an historic opportunity.

If he wants it.

That’s the question, isn’t it? As detailed by TCPalm's Ali Schmitz, DeSantis made a lot of environmental promises on the campaign trail. He gained the backing of such environmental groups as the Everglades Trust and Bullsugar — no small feat for a Republican.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast chaired DeSantis’s environmental transition team, and appeared to be pushing in the right direction.

Say what you want about Mast — and many do –— but his commitment to cleaner water seems real. And so, perhaps, is DeSantis’.

But.

Now DeSantis will be buffered by forces determined to protect the status quo. Inertia — all in the name of prosperity, you understand — will be strong.

DeSantis did make headlines after taking shots at Florida's all-powerful sugar industry. Mast has pushed him to shake up the South Florida Water Management District.

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So will DeSantis take the easy path and just go with the flow?

Or will he fight?

There's a sound philosophical basis for him to do so. DeSantis has invoked a great Republican conservationist, telling reporters last year “I represent, maybe, an emergence of a Teddy Roosevelt-style Republican Party here in Florida.”

In this "purple" state, there's surely a market for that.

In 2013, conservative writer Andrew Bacevich outlined what he called “countercultural conservatism,” a conservative tradition updated for our times.

“As human beings, our first responsibility lies in stewardship, preserving our common inheritance and protecting that which possesses lasting value,” he wrote.

Think the nuclear family, sure, but also think the Everglades; the natural environment. Our waters.

This new conservative agenda, Bacevich wrote, must focus on "protecting the environment from the ravages of human excess.

“Here most emphatically,” Bacevich wrote, “the central theme of conservatism should be to conserve. If that implies subordinating economic growth and material consumption in order to preserve the well-being of planet Earth, so be it.”

This idea — that economic growth may need to take a backseat to conservation — is enough to make your average Tallahassee Republican choke on his Chicklets.

Here in Florida, there’s even more of a definitive case for what Bacevich advocates. Here, economic prosperity hinges upon ecological progress.

To put it another way: You think an 80 percent cancellation rate on Sanibel is economically sustainable? What’s the cost of inaction? How many businesses dependent on clean water and a clean environment teeter when we have neither?

So if DeSantis chooses (or is allowed) to follow through on environmental reform, there is a solid conservative basis for doing so. If that means he winds up allied with tree-huggers, well, we all breathe the same blue-green algae or red-tide infused air. We all wonder what effect the ecological disasters of recent years will have on our own health, and that of our children.

DeSantis isn't going to change things overnight, but he can begin to steer the battleship in a better direction. He can initiate the process of real change.

Like I said — he’s got an historic opportunity, but he’s got to want it as much as the rest of us do.

Gil Smart is a TCPalm columnist and a member of the Editorial Board. His columns reflect his opinion. Readers may reach him at gil.smart@tcpalm.com, by phone at 772-223-4741 or via Twitter at @TCPalmGilSmart.