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Man-Made "Dead Zone" In Gulf of Mexico the Size of Connecticut

Posted by samzenpus on from the we're-doomed dept.

Taco Cowboy writes Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico there is a man-made "Dead Zone" the size of the State of Connecticut. Inside that "Dead Zone" the water contains no oxygen, or too little to support normal marine life, especially the bottom dwelling fish and shrimps. The "Dead Zone" measures about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square kilometers) [and] is caused by excess nutrient runoff from farms along the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf. The excess nutrients feed algae growth, which consumes oxygen when it works its way to the Gulf bottom. The Gulf dead zone, which fluctuates in size but measured 5,052 square miles this summer, is exceeded only by a similar zone in the Baltic Sea around Finland. The number of dead zones worldwide currently totals more than 550 and has been increasing for decades.

5 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. This is no dead zone. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It is a life opportunity area. Give it a chance.

    1. Re:This is no dead zone. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

      It is a life opportunity area. Give it a chance.

      That's 'Photosynthetic Entrepreneurship Incubator', please... A carefully constructed program of Nitrogen Incentives has (quite literally) grown trillions of Green Jobs in the dynamic and competitive Algae sector. Truly an achievement to be proud of.

      Yes, some people, driven by the politics of envy, allege that the disruption of legacy 'oxygen breathing' business models is a problem rather than a sign of progress; but that sick desire to prop up uncompetitive organisms with the dead hand of state wealth redistribution has no place in a free society!

  2. Breaking News - Source of Pure Hydrogen Found by willworkforbeer · · Score: 2, Funny

    " Inside that "Dead Zone" the water contain no oxygen"

    Step 1. Find Connecticut-sized container
    Step 2. Something something
    Step 3. Profit.

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  3. Re:That's good news by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now if we could only move it TO Connecticut, we could kill two birds with one stone!

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  4. Re:So? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great idea! But we would probably need more labor for this to work. To soak up the unemployed pool in the US, we could send them to Africa in an ecologically sound fleet of wind-powered ships built from natural nonmetallic materials.