There are now more than 95,000 square miles of our oceans that are “dead”. These dead zones are areas where the bottom water at the sea floor is anoxic. This term means that there is no concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water.
The reason for anoxic water is that there is excess amounts of phytoplankton at the surface of the ocean (algae blooms) that produce excess organic matter. As this organic matter finishes its life cycle, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean where it is broken down by bacteria. This process is known as “bacterial respiration”. Even though the phytoplankton eat up carbon dioxide and produce oxygen during their photosynthetic process, the bacteria produce carbon dioxide and use up this oxygen during their respiration process. The “exchange rate” is not equal and the result is that the bacteria use up all of the available dissolved oxygen in the water. This dissolved oxygen would normally be utilized by other oxygen respiring animals such as shrimp, crabs, clams, lobsters, fish, etc. The ones that can escape to other areas where the oxygen content of the water is normal and can support life, flee, while the slow moving die.
The expansion rate of these “creeping” dead zones is alarming. They now number over 400. In fact, the number of these dead zones has doubled every decade since the 1960′s. This expansion rate is trending towards exponential growth and even though only 2% of our oceans are affected now, this number could be 20% by the end of the century. Most of these dead zones are located near the mouths of major rivers worldwide. The main culprit for this is commercial farming, sewage runoff and emissions from the burning of fossil fuel in factories and automobiles. The runoff from the nitrogen based fertilizer gets into the rivers, flows to the ocean and then mixes with the ocean water adding excess nutrients. The fossil fuel emissions produce airborne nitrogen oxides which rain distributes into the oceans which also accelerates the growth of the phytoplankton. This happens because we are living the same consuming lifestyle with “old” technology that is inefficient. More than 49% of our energy is supplied by “dirty” inefficient coal burning plants in the United States. And we are the king of the consumers on earth where the average American uses more than 100 times more energy per capita than it takes to sustain one life on this planet. Then you bring in commercial, chemical based agriculture and you get the picture. As other developing countries such as China, India, and Brazil to name a few grow and expand their “middle class”, they too want this lifestyle- a piece of the American consumer driven pie. I will have more on this later. Now back to the dead zones…
Other events such as volcano eruptions, hurricanes, and polar cap melting can accelerate the expansion of dead zones as well. Major ecosystems in the worlds oceans are being disrupted and destroyed and the problem is not getting better, it’s getting way worse. Another downside is the commercial fishing industry. There has been a tremendous downturn on production from these areas. When you look at the big picture and remember that we derive more than 70% of OUR oxygen from this very same ocean, you have to be concerned.
What can you do? Support organic farming, drive less, demand green technology incentives from your politicians, live a responsible, sustainable lifestyle. BUT the bottom line is that in the USA we use dirty, inefficient energy, and there is little incentive from the government to the private business sector that would encourage new research and development of clean energy technology. The government of the United States must GUARANTEE that these new technologies will be utilized OR THERE WILL BE NO DEVELOPMENT by this private sector. And without these new, clean sources of energy we will continue down this deadly path until we kill ourselves because we didn’t demand change. We need a green revolution now, not tomorrow. Our future depends on it.
