Meat industry blamed for largest-ever 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico
Source: The Guardian
Meat industry blamed for largest-ever 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico
A new report shows toxins from suppliers to companies like Tyson Foods are pouring into waterways, causing marine life to leave or die
Oliver Milman
Tuesday 1 August 2017 15.26 BST
The global meat industry, already implicated in driving global warming and deforestation, has now been blamed for fueling what is expected to be the worst “dead zone” on record in the Gulf of Mexico.
Toxins from manure and fertiliser pouring into waterways are exacerbating huge, harmful algal blooms that create oxygen-deprived stretches of the gulf, the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay, according to a new report by Mighty, an environmental group chaired by former congressman Henry Waxman.
It is expected that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) will this week announce the largest ever recorded dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to be larger than the nearly 8,200 square-mile area that was forecast for July – an expanse of water roughly the size of New Jersey.
Nutrients flowing into streams, rivers and the ocean from agriculture and wastewater stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which then decomposes. This results in hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, in the water, causing marine life either to flee or to die.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/01/meat-industry-dead-zone-gulf-of-mexico-environment-pollution
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What's good for one organism, may not be good for another.
A huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Said to be the largest ever. Fish dying in countless millions. Industrial agriculture to blame.
