Dead Zone

Reading the paper this morning, i learned something interesting and perhaps scary as well. With all the flooding the Mississippi River has seen this year, it is creating a "dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. They call it a dead zone because the water is devoid or very low in oxygen causing sea life to be unable to live there and even die. This apparently isn't the first time it's happened but they're saying it will be worse and last longer than ever before this year.

Apparently Fresh water and salt water have an oil and water type relationship and they don't mix well. This leads to a hypoxic condition which keeps oxygen from filtering down to the ocean floor.

In 2002, 7900 square miles were affected, this year it could reach 8800 square miles. It's not likely that even a hurricane or a tropical storm would have any affect. How scary is that? The bad thing is guess what? It's believed the main reason for this is pollution from fertilizers. So it's potentially our fault that it's happening. Flooding would be bad enough apparently but the pollutants make it worse.

Anyway, if you want to read more about the issue go here

To me, this is just another reason for us all to try and make better choices in life and to try and go as green as we can.

Nessa