Is corn boom expanding Gulf of Mexico's 'dead zone'? By Conrad WilsonStar Tribune, June 2 2008http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/19473599.html?location_refer=Lifestyle Some fear an ethanol-fueled harvest in the Midwest may be behind the hard times for marine life at the other end of the Mississippi River. WASHINGTON - Last fall, the farm fields of the Midwest yielded record profits and [...]
Dead Zones Grow in the Gulf of Mexico By Kent GarberU.S. News and World Report; June 6, 2008http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/06/06/dead-zones-grow-in-the-gulf-of-mexico.html How U.S. farming policy leads to 'dead zones,' huge marine areas where nothing can grow Each spring, the cycle of death begins anew. Nitrogen and phosphorus, leached from fertilizer, pass from farmland into streams, from streams into [...]
Dead waterMay 15, 2008; The Economisthttp://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11367884&subjectID=348924&fsrc=nwl Too much nitrogen being washed into the sea is causing dead zones to spread alarmingly NEW life generally flourishes in the spring, unless it is marine life in the Gulf of Mexico. Every spring the coastal waters turn into a scene of devastation and death. Known as a “dead [...]
My Trip to the Dead Zone By Justin MartinPoint of Vue, Houma; May 2008http://www.povhouma.com/Articles/2008/05_May/lv_03_0508.HTML I woke, and the bed was rocking. When my feet found the floor in the absolute darkness, I realized it wasn’t just the bed; the whole room was rocking. There was a slow, steady roll under the floor, and I didn’t [...]
Water pollution: Dawn of the 'Dead Zones' By Matt Ford for CNNCNN; April 21, 2008http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/20/eco.waterpollution/Story HighlightsAgricultural pollution has caused a 'Dead Zone' in the Gulf of MexicoGlobally the number of Dead Zones has doubled every decade since the 1980'sThe drive to increase biofuel production could increase pollution in rivers and seasPesticide use rose 1000 percent [...]
Lake Erie undergoing 'huge' ecological changes By Sonja PuzicThe Windsor Star; April 28, 2008 PUT-IN-BAY, OHIO -- The Franz Theodore Stone Laboratory on tiny historic Gibraltar Island in western Lake Erie has hosted generations of students, young biologists and leading researchers for more than 100 years. Nestled among a cluster of other smaller islands near [...]
NEWS ANALYSIS: Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing By Andrew MartinNew York Times; April 15, 2008http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/business/worldbusiness/15food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Fuel%20Choices,%20Food%20Crises%20and%20Finger-Pointing%20&st=nyt&scp=1 But now a reaction is building against policies in the United States and Europe to promote ethanol and similar fuels, with political leaders from poor countries contending that these fuels are driving up food prices and starving poor people. [...]
Workshops focus on conservation By Heather MenziesBay City Tribune; April 9, 2008http://baycitytribune.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3e7a8ae9b42baed8The Matagorda County AgriLife Extension Service will offer, at no cost to the public, four sessions of Earth Kind workshops over two days on from 10 a.m. – noon and 6 -8 p.m. at the Bay City Service Center on Wednesday and Thursday April [...]
Ethanol pollution in Gulf of Mexico The Hindu; Online Edition of India's National Newspaper; Apr 10, 2008http://www.hindu.com/seta/2008/04/10/stories/2008041050801500.htm While the search for alternative fuels is in full swing in many countries in order to reduce dependency on pollution causing conventional fuels an ironic situation is emerging where the rush in the United States to produce corn-based [...]
Dead zones regularly haunt coast By Matthew TresaugueHouston Chronicle; April 3, 2008http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/5673526.html Low-oxygen waters known as dead zones have appeared as regularly as the tides along the Texas coast, according to a new Texas A&M University study. Although the first report of a dead zone off Texas came in 1979, researchers now believe the condition [...]