Topic: Bad, Bad Humans Do It Again, Kill The Gulf Of Mexico (Bad Humans! Bad!)

[trapeze]

NEW ORLEANS -- Scientists predict this year's "dead zone" of low-oxygen water in the northern Gulf of Mexico will be the largest in history -- about the size of Lake Erie -- because of more runoff from the flooded Mississippi River valley.

Each year when the nutrient-rich freshwater from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers pours into the Gulf, it spawns massive algae blooms. In turn, the algae consume the oxygen in the Gulf, creating the low oxygen conditions. Fish, shrimp and many other species must escape the dead zone or face dying.

Federal and university scientists predict this year's zone will be between 8,500 square miles (22,015 sq. kilometers) and about 9,400 square miles (24,346 sq. kilometers). The actual size of the dead zone will be measured over the summer.

The largest recorded dead zone was found in 2002 when 8,400 square miles (21,756 sq. kilometers) of the Gulf was found to lacking sufficient oxygen for most marine life.

LINK

Seems that we can't scratch our ass without screwing up something somewhere. If we aren't broiling the planet with our deadly poison CO2 emmisions, we're makin' dead zones or something. Seems like only yesterday we were giving everyone skin cancer with our big huge ozone hole.

[Libertas]

Bad humans?

Mother nature and her tantrums did it, not us!

 

[LadyVirginia]

Seems that we can't scratch our ass without screwing up something somewhere. If we aren't broiling the planet with our deadly poison CO2 emmisions, we're makin' dead zones or something. Seems like only yesterday we were giving everyone skin cancer with our big huge ozone hole.

ah, those were the days!  And we thought all we had to do was give up out aerosol cans!

Let's just chuck it all and let the earth take care of itself.  It will anyway.

Probably will find out later that dead zones are helpful -- like natural wildfires help rebuild forests