Sand Storms, Butterflies, and Dead Zones
Large areas of our oceans are becoming "dead
zones" - places where nothing but plankton live. Several studies
have been released recently including one by the United Nations Environment Program.
There
are now nearly 150 dead zones around the globe, more than twice the
number in 1990. Some extend 27,000 square miles, approximately the size
of Ireland.
The main cause is excess nitrogen run-off from
farm fertilizers, sewage and industrial pollutants. The nitrogen triggers
blooms of microscopic algae known as phytoplankton. As the algae die
and rot, they consume oxygen, thereby suffocating everything from clams
and lobsters to oysters and fish.
"Human kind is engaged in a gigantic, global, experiment
as a result of inefficient and often overuse of fertilizers, the discharge
of untreated sewage and the ever rising emissions from vehicles and
factories," UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said. "Unless
urgent action is taken to tackle the sources of the problem, it is
likely to escalate rapidly."
UNEP is warning that without a concerted
effort to improve access to safe drinking water, a third of the world's
population will likely suffer chronic water shortages within a few decades.
Already nearly 1.1 billion people lacked access to safe drinking water
in 2000, and another 2.4 billion lacked access to basic sanitation. |
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There is a myth combined with a large scale public denial about the interconnectedness
of the natural world. The myth is that of infinite resources - the frontier
mentality from the last century when there was always more land to plunder,
and the modernist myth of continual progress. These myths are the biggest
dangers to "civilization." More than terrorism. More than the "clash of civilizations."
We need a new model of sustainable civilization.
The state of macro denial will increasingly be difficult to maintain.
For example, UNEP researchers have recently linked damage
to coral reefs in the Caribbean with sand
storms in the Sahara.
Watch out. Dead oceans full of plastic and fertilizers are everybody's
problem.
Butterflies
cause hurricanes.
Posted by Dean Terry at April 22, 2004 08:30 AM| TrackBack
