The Minerals Management Service has been put in charge over commercial fish farms at unused oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The same waters where we’ve destroyed marine ecosystems already.
In Florida hundreds of gentle manatees wash up dead, bleeding from the nose. Gassed to death by toxic algae.
For now, tourists and local residents are luckier. They drive inland to escape the red tides of choking gas and dead fish that linger for months each year. Scientists say fertilizer runoff is the trigger.
Industrial farms for fruit, vegetables and grains, cattle ranchers and urban gardeners use about 20 MILLION tons of fertilizer a year. This washes down creeks and waterways to empty into the sea. And there it grows forests of algae so deadly that 2000-pound mammals die from their fumes.
Nature created large schools of little fish and oysters, to eat algae and filter the water.
But we ate all the oysters and ground up the fishies. For industrial fertilizer and chicken feed. So the algae grow and die unchecked, sucking up the oxygen. And large fish suffer without enough of it breathe.
There’s a crisis in the insect world too. Honey bees have disappeared from their hives. Ice-cream producers worry how they’ll make almond and pistachio flavors without bees to pollinate flowers. Scientists dissect dead bees, and test empty hives, to find the killer. Bee keepers in China’s Sichuan Province could tell us, if asked.
In the 1980s, Sichuan pear farmers were encouraged to use strong insecticides. In Hanyuan County they sprayed as told, and noticed that the bees disappeared. Since the 1990s, they have to arrange for each pear blossom to be pollinated by hand! It’s stressful work but nearby bee keepers won’t let their bees anywhere near those trees. Reason: industrial-strength poisons KILL bees.
This summer, the Fish and Wildlife Service is warning cavers to avoid contamination from dead and dying bats in caves. People in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont are alarmed by dead bats with a white fungus around the nose. Found in yards, in attics, on the side of houses. Tens of thousands of dead bats. Since a single bat can eat 3000 pest insects in one night, our crops are in danger.
Scientists can’t keep up with everything that’s going wrong. But the good news is each State has officers like Ruth Wallace in Missouri. She helps farmers, ranchers and urban developers find cost-effective solutions. And is happy to share what’s worked.
#1 : Design for the watershed.
Instead of starting urban development by laying out straight roads, begin by identifying how water naturally drains. And place green buffers between proposed buildings and the water drainage route. So what if this makes the roads less straight. We can live with curvy roads if that cleans our water.
#2 : Build with less concrete.
The more land we leave natural, the better sand and gravel and plants can filter out toxic stuff from runoff. And the cleaner is the water that reaches the sea. Do we need roads as wide as we’re designing? Make them narrow and reduce oily runoff. Keep planted ditches alongside to absorb water. Remove the curbs and stormwater gutters.
#3 : Check water for phosphorus.
As little as 0.025 mg/liter of phosphorus in lakes and reservoirs makes algae grow abnormally fast. Wastewater treatment plants along rivers can help by reducing this chemical in the water they release.
#4 : Landscape with native plants.
Orchardgrass, bromegrass, tall fescue, lespedeza and clover provide rich grazing. And let ranchers fatten cattle while cutting fertilizer bills! They make hay land profitable too. Plus, native plants are naturally drought and pest resistant habitats on wildlife land. They rebuild soil quality with their deep root systems.
Urban gardeners save water and pesticides with native species. Gently-sloping depressions catch stormwater, and provide a backyard wetland for insects and birds.
#5 : Green buffers and roofs.
Edge feathering of land with trees, shrubs and grass makes for a buffer strip along water channels. It protects stream banks from erosion—how most phosphorus, that sticks to soil particles, gets into water. And plants break down animal waste and fertilizer.
Green roofs that grow plants on 3-5 inches of soil, soak up stormwater and grow vegetables and reduce energy bills! New York City will give tax credits for 25% of the cost—if at least 50% of roof space is converted to a roof garden.
#6 : Fenced cattle = cleaner water.
Phosphorus is present in manure. Keep cattle away from creeks and ditches, and there’s less work for water treatment plants.
Ruth also recommends we read Bruce Babbitt’s “Cities In The Wilderness”.
There aren’t enough monitors for agribusiness so we have to protect ourselves. As consumers we can buy locally grown produce and fruit at farmers’ markets. Plant, and exchange, heirloom seeds. Buy a share in family farms—we agree to pay the farmer in advance for harvest that’s delivered later. Community Supported Agriculture, it’s called. The benefits: small, family farms can find cash when they need it; we get organic produce and fruit; and stop our money going to corporations like Cargill, Archer-Daniels Midland, Monsanto and Hormel. As shareholders, demand that chemical giants be accountable for their environmental violations. And petition our Senators to put some teeth in environmental fines.
All life’s related. The poison that kills off one species needs just a few steps to get to us.
Reference
1. Ruth Wallace, Water Pollution Control Branch, Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
2. New York State Law A11226 Diaz RS7553 Lanza, August 2008.
3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Unidentified Ailment Threatens Bat Population”, 2008.
4. Michael Risinit, “Dying Bats Befuddle Scientists, 2008.
5. Food & Water Watch, “Cargill: A Corporate Threat to Food and Farming”, 2008.
6. Kenneth R Weiss, “Altered Oceans”, 2006.
7. Tang Ya, Xie Jia-sui, Chen Keming, “Hand pollination of pears and its implications for biodiversity conservation and environmental protection”, 2005.
