The Gulf Of Mexico's Dead Zone

More bad news, water lovers:

The Gulf Of Mexico's Dead Zone Is The Biggest Ever Seen

The teal blue area along the Louisiana coastline represents a "dead zone" of oxygen-depleted water.
Resulting from nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Mississippi River, it can potentially hurt fisheries.

NASA/Getty Images

Quoting the NPR article:

It has become a rite of summer. Every year, a "dead zone" appears in the Gulf of Mexico. It's an area where water doesn't have enough oxygen for fish to survive. And every year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration commissions scientists to venture out into the Gulf to measure it.

This week, NOAA announced that this year's dead zone is the biggest one ever measured. It covers 8,776 square miles — an area the size of New Jersey. And it's adding fuel to a debate over whether state and federal governments are doing enough to cut pollution that comes from farms.

The debate actually goes back many years, at least to 1985, when Don Scavia was a scientist at the NOAA. He and his colleagues asked some scientists, for the first time, to go look for a dead zone in the Gulf.

"We expected it to be there," Scavia recalls. They expected to find it because they knew that the Mississippi River delivers a heavy load of nutrient pollution, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, into the Gulf.

Farmers use those nutrients on fields as fertilizer. Rain washes them into nearby streams and rivers. And when they reach the Gulf of Mexico, those nutrients unleash blooms of algae, which then die and decompose. That is what uses up the oxygen in a thick layer of water at the bottom of the Gulf, in a band that follows the coastline.

The record-breaking dead zone this year is the result of unusually heavy rains in the Midwest, which flushed a lot of nutrients into the Gulf.

The dead zone is invisible from the surface of the ocean. Scientists lower instruments into the water to measure oxygen levels near the bottom. But Scavia describes it as a kind of hidden environmental disaster. "You know, it's 8,000 square miles of no oxygen. That can't be good!" he says. Potentially, it could have huge economic costs as well, because it imperils Louisiana's shrimp industry.



Read full article from NPR here: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/08/03/541222717/the-gulf-of-mexicos-dead-zone-is-the-biggest-ever-seen

Is Boxed Water Better?

Here are the folks who will tell you why boxed water is better:

BETTER PACKAGING.
BETTER PLANET.

Bottled water is convenient. The way it’s produced isn’t. Our boxes are more eco-friendly than plastic bottles and are more efficient to produce and ship. Every choice we make is a step toward a healthier lifestyle. Make Boxed Water one of your steps.

PUTTING THE PLANET FIRST

It’s our responsibility to take care of the planet. We offer a convenient, environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic bottled water. We are 100% recyclable and ship flat to our regional filling locations; reducing our carbon footprint compared to plastic.

SUSTAINABLE BY DESIGN

Roughly three-quarters of each of our boxes is made of paper, fully recyclable and free of BPAs and phthalates. Our paper comes from well-managed forests which are continually being replanted to replace harvested trees, helping offset our carbon footprint and allowing us all to breathe easier.

Read more here: https://boxedwaterisbetter.com/pages/why-boxed-is-better

Water Supply Decline In East Asia

Climate plays role in decline of one of Asia's most critical water resources

Photo from: http://www.writeopinions.com/yangtze-plain

 Source: Kansas State University

Quoting the article:

Climate variability -- rather than the presence of a major dam -- is most likely the primary cause for a water supply decline in East Asia's largest floodplain lake system, according to a Kansas State University researcher.

The fluvial lake system across China's Yangtze River Plain, which serves nearly half a billion people and is a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion, lost about 10 percent of its water area from 2000-2011, according to Jida Wang, assistant professor of geography. Wang and colleagues published their findings for the lake system's decline in the American Geophysical Union's journal Water Resources Research.

"Many people's first intuition is that the culprit must be the Three Gorges Dam because it impounds so much water in the Yangtze River, but our fingerprinting study undeniably shows that the dam is not the decline's primary cause," Wang said. "Climate variability is the predominant driver of this decadal dynamic."

Wang collaborated with Yongwei Sheng, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Yoshihide Wada, of Austria's International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. They found that roughly 80 percent of the observed lake decline is the result of simultaneous climate variability closely related to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which has caused droughts and flooding in the region.

 
Read full article here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170803103146.htm

Houston Zoo will no longer sell plastic water bottles

Congratulations to Houston Zoo! 

Good news via Ban The Bottle:

Ban The Bottle is reporting that the Houston Zoo has taken the important step to ban plastic water bottles following their momentous announcement banning plastic bags in 2015.

Read on, water lovers:

HOUSTON (KTRK) —

In 2015, the Houston Zoo removed plastic bags in the gift shops to protect animals in the wild, by eliminating an estimated 80,000 plastic bags from entering landfills and the environment each year. Now, two years later, the zoo-based conservation organization has gone one step further and eliminated single-use plastic water bottles from all concession stands.

The zoo provides veterinary care for rescued wild sea turtles that have consumed plastic every year. The elimination of single-use plastic water bottles will have a significant, wildlife saving, impact on the environment by reducing the amount of plastic waste by nearly 300,000 single-use plastic bottles in just one year.

Guests now have two choices when purchasing water at the zoo – an aluminum reusable water bottle (pre-filled with water) or a JUST Water recyclable, paper-based water bottle at any of the restaurants or kiosks. JUST Water bottles are made up of 82 percent renewable resources, leaving behind a much smaller carbon footprint than bottles made entirely of plastic. The bottle itself is made of paper from certified forests and the plastic cap is made from sugarcane, making JUST Water bottles 100 percent recyclable.

The zoo also has water bottle refilling stations throughout its grounds. There are two types of refilling stations- free standing, green fountains and silver, chilled fountains attached to walls, made possible by a partnership with Texas Plumbing Supply.

These fountains are easily recognizable by the “Save Sea Turtles Here” signs. Using reusable water bottles and refilling them at these stations helps save sea turtles in the wild by keeping this waste out of the ocean. Plastic bottles and bags can make their way to Houston’s waterways and end up in the ocean, home to animals like sea turtles, sting rays, sharks, and an array of fish.

“The zoo is committed to saving animals, and their habitats, in the wild and this is just one more way we can inspire guests to take simple actions and join us in protecting wildlife,” says Peter Riger, vice president of conservation education. “We are using this action specifically to highlight the need to protect marine animals from debris. It also allows our guests to play a direct part in making a difference on our planet.”


Read full article here: https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/houston-zoo-will-no-longer-sell-plastic-water-bottles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BanTheBottle+%28Ban+the+Bottle%29

More than 8.3 billion tons of plastics made

Another article on plastic that needs to be shared around the world. Stop using plastic, people!

This article is from Science Daily:

More than 8. 3 billion tons of plastics made: Most has now been discarded

Humans have created 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics since large-scale production of the synthetic materials began in the early 1950s, and most of it now resides in landfills or the natural environment, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.

Led by a team of scientists from the University of Georgia, the University of California, Santa Barbara and Sea Education Association, the study is the first global analysis of the production, use and fate of all plastics ever made.

The researchers found that by 2015, humans had generated 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics, 6.3 billion tons of which had already become waste. Of that waste total, only 9 percent was recycled, 12 percent was incinerated and 79 percent accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.
If current trends continue, roughly 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or the natural environment by 2050. Twelve billion metric tons is about 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.

"Most plastics don't biodegrade in any meaningful sense, so the plastic waste humans have generated could be with us for hundreds or even thousands of years," said Jenna Jambeck, study co-author and associate professor of engineering at UGA. "Our estimates underscore the need to think critically about the materials we use and our waste management practices."

The scientists compiled production statistics for resins, fibers and additives from a variety of industry sources and synthesized them according to type and consuming sector.

Global production of plastics increased from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to over 400 million metric tons in 2015, according to the study, outgrowing most other human-made materials. Notable exceptions are materials that are used extensively in the construction sector, such as steel and cement.
But while steel and cement are used primarily for construction, plastics' largest market is packaging, and most of those products are used once and discarded.

"Roughly half of all the steel we make goes into construction, so it will have decades of use -- plastic is the opposite," said Roland Geyer, lead author of the paper and associate professor in UCSB's Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. "Half of all plastics become waste after four or fewer years of use."

And the pace of plastic production shows no signs of slowing. Of the total amount of plastics produced from 1950 to 2015, roughly half was produced in just the last 13 years.


Read the full article here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170719140939.htm

'Ditch plastic straws'

Here's a great article on reducing plastic waste:

'Ditch plastic straws' – experts and campaigners on how to cut plastic waste 

Lily Cole helps launch charity T-shirts made using recycled plastic to

draw attention to the 15m plastic water bottles used each day in the UK.

Photograph: Dave M. Benett

Marks & Spencer has redesigned and repackaged more than 140 best-selling products to cut plastic use, saving 75 tonnes of packaging a year in the process.

But are retailers and manufacturers doing enough? What more could and should they be doing? We asked a range of packaging experts and campaigners. Here’s what they said.


 

Lily Cole: ‘Ditch single-use plastic water bottles’

Companies should be proactively designing solutions to reduce plastic waste. Single-use plastic water bottles are perhaps the most damning culprit when there are so many alternatives readily available. I recently supported Brita’s #SwapForGood campaign, committing to avoiding single-use plastic water bottles and carrying around a reusable bottle instead.

Read the full article here:  https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/30/retailers-manufacturers-reduce-plastic-use-waste-lily-cole-ellen-macarthur

An Iceberg has broken off Antarctica ice shelf

If you haven't heard the news yet, here it is. Read it and weep. Weep for the Earth, that is.

Here's the gist of the article by USA Today:

What happens now that the iceberg has broken off Antarctica ice shelf?

A giant iceberg nearly the size of Delaware has broken off an Antarctic ice shelf.
Scientists have closely watched the growing crack in the ice shelf over the past few months.
Swansea University professor Adrian Luckman, a scientist with Project MIDAS, answered many of the burning questions about the newly created iceberg.

How is the iceberg tracked?

It is being tracked by many types of satellite data. As for actual photos taken by scientists aboard a survey plane, that won't occur until October, when the Antarctic spring is underway.


Read the full article here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2017/02/02/antarctica-ice-shelf-q-and-a/97406348/