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Scientists Solve Riddle of Toxic Algae Blooms
An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from the Victoria Times Colonist: "After a remarkable 37-year experiment, University of Alberta scientist David Schindler and his colleagues have finally nailed down the chemical triggers for a problem that plagues thousands of freshwater and coastal ecosystems around the world." Punchline: "Phosphorus."
But we can't go and kill all that innocent algae! Humanity is a blight and we must take it as our just desserts! /off whacky enviro rant.
From TFA:
There are now 146 coastal regions in the world in which fish and bottom-feeding life forms have been entirely eliminated because of a lack of oxygen. One dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is about the size of the city of New Jersey and growing.
I can understand dumbing-down the units of measure to Volkswagens or Libraries of Congress, but the last time I looked at Wikipedia, New Jersey was still the 3rd state admitted to the Union. I mean, come on... it's already the brunt of every New York comedian's jokes, and now you Brits are trying to demote it to a mere "city"?
(Of course, I'm from Texas, where an "area the size of the STATE of New Jersey" would barely be counted as a moderate-sized ranch.)
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
According to a chemistry major I know, adding one gram or so of phosphorus can cause more devastating algae ownage
Algae ownage? I'd love to read that guy's thesis!
You just got troll'd!
Not only does the government have to pull out all stops to control phosphorous, he says, it needs to protect wetlands that remove these nutrients from runoff before they reach lakes and streams. It also needs to set up rules that create natural buffer zones that protect lakes and rivers from agricultural, municipal and cottage developments.
Who knew that pumping phosphorous and toxic waste into the rivers and ocean would have negative consequences.
The Long Now Foundation
New Jersey, Northumberland, New Brunswick, Canada This is an article from Canada after all.
I'm taking it as a very clever form of satire: confusing New Jersey as a state versus a city; confusing Canada with England.
I mean, it's pretty obvious that it's a Canadian article because it's in English and Canada is the only state in the Union that speaks English.
I'm guessing that's British for "Pwnage", correct?
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Yea, jesus, that's a whole career with only one deliverable.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
phosphorus leads to flora growth? They ought to look into using that stuff in fertilizers.
Actually, I believe the British spelling is 'aenage'.
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
...fish waist...
Fish don't have waists. That's why they seldom wear pants.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
What, like out of the toilet?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
This week's lesson: this discovery comes not long after phosphorus was eliminated from most household laundry detergents by federal law.
FTFA, this discovery "comes not long after" experiments done in the 1960's and 1970's.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
One dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is about the size of the city of New Jersey and growing.
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
. . . so I took her to New Jersey. ;-)
Does this mean I can still proceed with my "Lake Detergent Water Slide: Your kids have fun and get clean at the same time!" amusement park?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Phosphorus: It's got want plants need.
One dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is about the size of the city of New Jersey and growing.
How many football fields worth of VW Bugs is that?
In a lot of fertilizers for gardern and lawn use it
This combination of words really makes my head freak out every time I try to read it.
Does that help at all? ;)