Dead zones in the ocean are caused by low levels of oxygen, and said low levels of oxygen are caused by increased amounts of chemicals in the water, most often fertilizers. Air pollution is often a factor. By now, I’m pretty sure you can see where I’m going with this: dead zones are on the rise.
But not just one the rise. Seriously very much so on the rise. In fact, the number of dead zones has roughly doubled every decade since the 1960’s, according to a Washington Post report. In turn, these dead zones are killing all sorts of fish and crab and marine life that serve as the bottom of the food chain.
The doubling of dead zones each decade means that today, dead zones number around 400 and cover approximately 95,000 square miles of ocean - just about the same size of Wyoming.
The low levels of oxygen don’t just create one problem. Per the Post article:
Douglas N. Rader, chief ocean scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the chaos in the planet’s nitrogen cycle is not only creating dead zones but also inciting the spread of toxic organisms, such as the pfiesteria that has appeared in recent years in the Chesapeake.
Both of things combined can cause some really big problems for the ocean - including massive aquatic die-off. Which, I’m pretty sure I learned from watching Blue Planet, could affect us in a pretty bad way. You can takepart here by visiting the World Wildlife Fund’s page on how we can all protect our oceans.
Related:
Ocean Dead Zone Getting Bigger: Inconvenient Truth of the Day
CATEGORIES: Environment
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- Worldchanging
Another good reason to let your lawn grass die. It is man’s hybrid and it sucks.
Mother Nature’s grass is better!!
Inspired by Marijuana: Not Guilty as Charged, by David R. Ford
Tale of Two Grasses
A long time ago, when Nature ruled earth,
A great green grass grew. To smoke it gave mirth.
It relaxed the body and calmed the nerve.
The plant gave such joy; its purpose to serve.
Man made it illegal a short time ago.
He can’t forsee futures, nor any of the woe.
The grass that man likes, he must mow and then thatch.
He must pour on his poisons, killing nature’s flower patch.
His grass has been altered, to grow from its base.
He cuts off its top; no leaves hide its face.
It is watered and fertilized, with such loving care.
Then gives back so little, to oxygenate our air.
Hard drugs and legal ones are rampant now.
Mankind is in trouble, so I take a vow,
To tell the whole truth. I won’t tell you lies.
I have smoked with the Arabs and dreamt with the Thais.
The fight against drugs is being lost by mankind.
The more we say don’t, the more he must find.
How did one gain such favour, the other outlawed?
Lets look at all facts, see which ones are flawed.
We wanted such riches. We forgot common sense.
Many know the truth, but sit on the fence.
Man’s grass is a hybrid, Nature’s, a token of love.
Let’s right a great wrong. Legalize the bud from above.
Grass, the Good
We have two kinds of grass, one good and one bad.
Man’s hybrid sucks resources, yet became such a fad;
The other helped people, but made rich men mad.
They could not patent it, and they wanted the wealth.
They wrote propaganda; used slight of hand stealth
To undermine the benefits to happiness and health.
Mankind turned to tobacco, alcohol and crystal meth.
Some legals cause harm, bringing premature death.
They cause such tragedy, like Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Nature made a medicine, the best she could grow.
It heals so much sorrow. How were we to know
Man would hide the truth and turn gift into foe?
Can we right a great wrong; let nature’s medicine be?
There are so many sad, and lonely people; but not me.
Mother nature will take care of us if we stop, look, and see.
Both by Lora Bruncke