Oceanography professor: Mississippi river is the toilet of North America

[IDemo]

Jeremy Jackson, Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, described the mouth of the Mississippi as “the bowl of the toilet of North America” during a speech at the California Academy of Sciences in September.

He explained that the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was only one of many environmental disasters already occurring.

“You can’t really understand this oil spill or put it in perspective unless you know the history of the northern Gulf of Mexico, which is one of the most depressing stories in American environmental history,” he said.

So much fertilizer has seeped into the Mississippi river that it has created a dead zone — a large area in the Gulf of Mexico with no oxygen.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/01/oceanography-professor-mississippi-is-the-toilet-of-north-america/

Video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w0F5MjXn8s&feature=player_embedded

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Bluzmann57]

2. As a resident of a river town

And a lover of the Mighty Mississippi, I couldn't agree more. It isn't only the mouth of the river, it goes far northward as well. Corporations have been fined for polluting our beautiful river with toxins and yet they keep on doing it. There are a few nuclear power plants along the river. An awful lot of people will no longer eat fish caught from the river. It's a damn shame because the Mississippi is a beautiful natural resource which we should all be able to enjoy.
Not making any particular plug here, but maybe we should all look into supporting living lands and waters, an organization started by one (then) kid to clean up this part of the Mississippi. It has since become bigger and he's still devoting his life to cleaning up our natural resources.

[MineralMan]

3. The Mississippi in Minnesota is cleaner now than it has been in

decades. I'm an avid angler, and often fish in the river in Saint Paul and south of there. I fish for all species, and practice catch and release. I have caught over 25 species of fish in the river, including some species that require pristine conditions. If those don't exist in a particular water, those fish are simply not there. Do people eat fish caught in the Mississippi? In my part of the river, they do. I don't, but a lot of anglers definitely eat the catfish and other fish caught in the river.

What happens further south, I can't say. I haven't fished there. But in Minnesota, the river's doing OK. It's not perfect, but it's good. It didn't used to be, but efforts led by anglers and the state's DNR have cleaned up this mighty river in Minnesota pretty damned well.

[AlecBGreen]

6. Good to hear MM!

Its nice to hear positive environmental news from time to time :hi:

[Bluzmann57]

7. Vey good to hear.

Down here in Iowa, there admittedly has been some improvement, but a lot of folks still won't eat what they catch unless it's out of one of the smaller rivers.

[ensho]

4. the dead river helps keep the dead Gulf dead

nt

[fasttense]

5. Well you don't expect corporations to take a crap in their own toilets do you?n/t

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R n/t