Ocean nitrates expected to go up

[cracker]

Here is a link to some more info.

'Dead Zone' Area In Gulf Could Be Increasing, Researchers Say

[kathywithbirds]

That was the same link as before. Were you after this one? It was down farther.

Government Plan To Revive 'Dead Zone' In Gulf Of Mexico Could Backfire

[kathywithbirds]

It has links to Wikipedia, with the Mississippi delta as one of the prime examples of "dead zones." People knew about it since the 70s, according to all that stuff. THAT's what really cheeses me off, people knew and did nothing or too little.

[zy112]

My dad is a third generation farmer and this is disturbing to me as well. You have to make a living but at the same time unfortunate that it has this kind of side effects. I guess its a lose lose situation, more oil usage results in air pollution but with the demand of ethanyl this happens.

[zy112]

Kathy I dont think the "people" or farmers can change it. It will have to be regulated by the government. Ie... an ethical farmer with 500k worth of equipment that decides to do the right thing will be out of business the next year bc rent and land prices are so I they have to produce the highest possible yield to make money. Other problems would have to be addressed before this can be fixed.

[Reef Goddess]

All of these tough problems. I think the main way to solve them is if more people demand a change, just like giving companies tax rebates for being more "green". Right now we are stuck with an adminstration that doesn't care about the environment and is happy to give breaks to major polluters.

You should see how few people on my own block recycle. Its not tough, they give you a big blue thing to throw glass, plastic, newspaper, etc into but I think 2 other people on my whole block actually put it out. Unfortunately, I don't think most of americans will change unless it hits them in their wallet just like with gas prices, but there's still a lot of people that buy hummers that will never see an off road trail. Why?

I think most people just aren't aware of their impact on the environment. Our garbage and wastewater is taken away to places that we don't have to see on a regular basis. Semi treated sewage is piped out into the ocean 100 ft under the water.

Even in our own hobby there is so much loss of life. Maybe if people saw how many fish and corals die each week at suppliers from shipping transit, poor collection practices, lack of care, they would take more care in setting up their reefs. Its like my husband says, they're not like flowers that you can just replace every few months.

I try to do my part at least by growing what I can in corals and not purchasing corals/fish that I know won't do well. I try to recycle as much as possible and buy from companies that have good environmental practices. Hopefully my next car will be a hybrid if they ever come out with anything good.

Regime change starts at home, if you want to preserve the enviroment you need to be proactive about it.

FWIW ethanol does not pollute as much as gasoline, but the process of raising corn to produce it is much more inefficient than raising sugarcane, etc. They are even looking into growing special types of algae as biofuel. There was an interesting article on biofuel in nat'l geographic a few months back.

[BigAl07]

Think Globally but act LOCALLY!

[revhard05]

i think that this topic is just another herdal in marine animals evolution, first it was crawling out of water, i think it will slowly rise to a point that eill give the marine creatures time to adjust to a higher nitrogen level

[revhard05]

the thing about ethanol is that it still is a hydro-carbon and it still puts out co2, and it is less efficent as far as lbs for lbs go

[prow]

sounds like a job for mutant ninja caulerpa, ta ta da ta da da

[SubRosa]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Wow! That's VERY disturbing! I wonder if they could combine crops and maybe plant something along the finges/edges that could increase the uptake of Nitrogen! Maybe create like a barrier between the run-off and the rivers/streams with something that takes up nitrogen very quickly and effciently. I'm sure (or at least hope) there's a plant that can do this. Maybe just a strip of this barrier plant between the crop and the waters edge.

Or what about some type of system that can absorb it.. like some type of matting or something? There's GOT to be a way to handle this.....

There is an easy barrier solution.It's called a salt marsh,or just wetlands.We just have to stop building houses in coastal areas and eliminating them.

[prow]

yeah subrosa, over here in so. cal we have done a good job of eleminating swamp/marsh lands. now that most of it has been developed, we complain and blame everyone and anyone on caulerpa taking over the marsh lands job. seems we really dont want to rid the waters of nasties, instead we add nutrients and remove any natural exporting the ocean uses. its crazy how our leaders view fixes and problems, we only need to look into the mirror to see the problem, the solutions become clear and simple.

[elliottb]

I vote make HUGE cheato areas near the mississippi to help get the nitrogen!

[elliottb]

Then, in the summer, sell it to people and make some money back. Then when they get all that money, they can get the nitrogen "obsorbing pads".

[Bob1]

Farmers are growing more corn not to feed us but for ethanol which IMHO is the biggest ripoff of our time.