If you really care about the Gulf Coast then stop eating non-organic soy and corn products.

[Radical Activist]

And forget about the corn-ethanol scam too. Every year the media largely ignores the environmental and economic calamity in the Gulf Coast caused by agricultural runoff from Midwestern factory farms. Most of the pesticides that cause the annual Gulf Dead Zone are used to grow soy and the High Fructose Corn Syrup that's in nearly all processed food.

The oil leak is a horrible, growing disaster. But let's remember that the media chooses to ignore some horrific environmental disasters that are tolerated as the cost of doing business. Big agribusiness has been destroying the Gulf Coast for a long time and no one is being held accountable.

We need to ban the worst sources of pollution and promote sustainable agriculture policies. It would be a hypocritical failure to fix the oil leak without also changing our agriculture policy.


http://prairierivers.org/rivers/preventing-water-pollution/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone/

Pollution from Illinois and other states in the Mississippi River Basin has been linked with an area within the Gulf of Mexico known as the Dead Zone. The Dead Zone forms every summer off the coast of Louisiana, and averages 5,000 square miles. This area is aptly named because oxygen gets so low (<2 mg/L) that ocean life cannot breathe. Species capable of moving large distances can escape the stressful conditions, but less mobile species such as shrimp and crab will perish when dissolved oxygen becomes limiting. Such loss of life is detrimental to the fishing industry and the ocean environment.

Scientists have determined that nitrogen and phosphorus pollution are the leading causes of the Dead Zone. When there are too many nutrients in the ocean, aquatic plants become excessively abundant and deplete the water of oxygen as they decompose. Recent studies by the U.S. Geological Survey have concluded that of all states draining into the Gulf of Mexico, Illinois contributes the most nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. Some of this pollution comes from municipal water treatment plants, but most of it comes from crop and livestock production. Therefore, in order to reduce the size of the Dead Zone, Illinois needs to become a national leader in tackling the amount of polluted runoff reaching the Gulf.

[readmoreoften]

1. If you really give a shit about the environment, get off your ass and oppose the war.

The US military is one of the greatest forces of pollution on this planet. Every 1 hour that a single standard fighter jet is deployed (like an F-13) it's the equivalent of 2 years of gas burned in a family car. And that's not even mentioning depleted uranium and the toxic waste produced by the war machine. And war is a 24 hour a day event.

I love it when people who support the war machine scold people about consumer politics and "buying green." If you really give a shit--and I mean one shit--about the environment, then instead of telling unemployed people to buy costly organics, why not stop apologizing for Afghanistan, expansion into Pakistan, and the fact that the US is still hiring crews to complete enormous US military bases in Iraq (if we're getting out, how come we're expanding our bases?)

What? Do you think the US military wrecking (and rebuilding and wrecking again) machine is concerned about coily fluorescent bulbs and energy efficient vehicles? Hell, they're fighting to protect Monsanto, Halliburton, and fucking BP.

Consumer politics are a joke.

[bettyellen]

6. you are a joke if you think anyone here supports the war machine.or limited to one issue like you

[Radical Activist]

9. Yeah, Does this joker think I haven't organized and spoken at several anti-war rallies? n/t

[Radical Activist]

8. Yeah, that too.

I hope everyone already knows.

[derby378]

10. If you keep thinking of yourself as a "consumer," though...

...that's only half the battle. You're not a consumer; you're a citizen, dagnabbit. Citizens ask questions and are never satisfied with the status quo - they believe there's always a way to make America better.

[Radical Activist]

12. And seriously, who are you responding to?

Because my post was not solely about consumer politics. Or did you just read the headline and make half-assed assumptions? Take your cookie-cutter rant about consumer politics somewhere else.

If people keep using products made with the pollutants causing the problem then the Gulf Coast isn't going to magically clean itself. There needs to be regulation and a systemic movement away from harmful industrial agriculture practices. Most people who work on peace or environmental issues realize how closely the two are linked instead of pretending that it's an either/or issue.

[Maat]

2. I agree, Radical Activist.

I think that, when one is able to do so, promoting healthy and locally-grown, organically-grown produce is important.

Of course, advocating for peace is important also; but, I can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[rucky]

3. This right here demonstrates a key difference between progressives

and conservatives.

Progressives can analyze the systematic effects of a policy or action. Conservatives can't see beyond the nose on their face, and would probably laugh at a post like this rather than try and understand it. And that is why the world becomes more dangerous when conservatives are in charge. I'm convinced they are cognitively incapable of thinking about cause and effect beyond one direct step.

[glowing]

4. Pesticides have nothing to do with phosphates or nitrates.

Those are fertilizers.. Fertilizers actually make alga blooms... Too much flora will take out the oxygen at night... It like a small pond that shrinks every year and becomes coated with green in the summer... Once the alge becomes harmful, the system becomes "dead"... The summer heat doesn't help but add to the growth. This is why scientists normally say ecosystems are a delicate balance. I'm not sure the farmers will ever stop fertilizing their fields.

[bettyellen]

7. non organic farms much use more fertilizers that just run off , organics build the soil itself

[Radical Activist]

11. A pretty inconsequential detail you're pointing out.

I don't believe there's only one source that nitrogen and phosphorus is coming from anyway. Farmers will stop using excessive amounts of specific fertilizers in the Mississippi River Basin if we require them to do so and if we consume less processed HFCS and soy.

[glowing]

13. No, its not an inconsequential thing to get facts correct. It is important

to understand what is happening within the system. It is important to understand what farming practices do to water sources. If you are tyring to explain why we should stop doing something a certain way, you should now what you are talking about and what the alternatives are and how economically feasible these changes are to a farmer. Its also important to understand that farm subsidies are one of the reasons we have HFCS and why sugar is more expensive... If you want to change the way we eat and farm, its important to understand how to change and what to change and where to attack... Don't forget Primary starts out in Iowa... which is fat on the corn... There's one start.. Change the first primary to the Presidential selection.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. You got a big Amen from me!

:hi: