...I might consider moving about now!!
It has been a bad number of years for those who call the shores of the Gulf of Mexico home. First came Hurricane Katrina. That did a number on them.
Just as the region was starting to regain it's footing -- BLAM -- the BP oil rig disaster nailed 'em. One year later, people and wildlife continue to suffer from the the toxic brew of oil and chemical dispersant.
This time it looks like Gulf residents won't even have time to catch their breaths before the next calamity rolls in. According to a report printed in Scientific American,
As to the latter, Hurricane Katrina would have been damaging enough on its own, but the negative impact was magnified several times over in the New Orleans area due to a poorly designed/built levee system and political negligence.
In terms of the former, the oil rig disaster might not have happened if a) the US was not addicted to oil and b) government regulatory agencies had actually done their jobs! We already know that the main concern of the corporate giant BP is to maximize short-term profit -- environmental and safety concerns be damned -- so the onus falls more on lax regulations and oversight than the self-interested corporate behemoth.
In many ways, the projected dead zone created by agricultural run-off is not that different from the oil rig disaster. The US is addicted to cheap food and regulatory agencies routinely thumb their noses at scientists who warn of the problems associated with a dependency on the overuse of toxic pesticides. Not only does it poison the ground, but, when it rains, the run-off poisons everything downstream.
If I lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, or Pascagoula, Mississippi, I might start wondering what the federal and state government had against me. I might even start to think they were trying to get rid of me, either outright or by destroying my way of life.
It has been a bad number of years for those who call the shores of the Gulf of Mexico home. First came Hurricane Katrina. That did a number on them.
Just as the region was starting to regain it's footing -- BLAM -- the BP oil rig disaster nailed 'em. One year later, people and wildlife continue to suffer from the the toxic brew of oil and chemical dispersant.
This time it looks like Gulf residents won't even have time to catch their breaths before the next calamity rolls in. According to a report printed in Scientific American,
This year's record Mississippi River floods are forecast to create the biggest Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" since systematic mapping began in 1985, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday.I hope you have noticed a common element at work here. All three disasters have a human-dictated component that either created the negative impact itself or exacerbated the impacts started by Mother Nature.
Often created by farm chemical run-off carried to the Gulf by the Mississippi, the 2011 low-oxygen "dead zone" could measure 8,500 to 9,421 square miles (22,253 to 26,515 sq km), or an area roughly the size of New Hampshire, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement.
This would be bigger than 2002's record-large hypoxic zone, which stretched over 8,400 square miles (21,750 sq km)...
As to the latter, Hurricane Katrina would have been damaging enough on its own, but the negative impact was magnified several times over in the New Orleans area due to a poorly designed/built levee system and political negligence.
In terms of the former, the oil rig disaster might not have happened if a) the US was not addicted to oil and b) government regulatory agencies had actually done their jobs! We already know that the main concern of the corporate giant BP is to maximize short-term profit -- environmental and safety concerns be damned -- so the onus falls more on lax regulations and oversight than the self-interested corporate behemoth.
In many ways, the projected dead zone created by agricultural run-off is not that different from the oil rig disaster. The US is addicted to cheap food and regulatory agencies routinely thumb their noses at scientists who warn of the problems associated with a dependency on the overuse of toxic pesticides. Not only does it poison the ground, but, when it rains, the run-off poisons everything downstream.
If I lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, or Pascagoula, Mississippi, I might start wondering what the federal and state government had against me. I might even start to think they were trying to get rid of me, either outright or by destroying my way of life.
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