Apr
09Caring about oceans when you don’t live near one: what’s the point?
Filed Under (Uncategorized, conservation) by Alexa & Cindy on 09-04-2009
This seems to be O4E’s big video week.
In researching National Environmental Education Week, we stumbled upon this video which we feel conveys the point that Alexa’s always trying to make, in one form or other, mostly to her young peers: just because you live in the middle of the corn fields of Iowa doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about the world’s oceans, or that you can’t possibly make a difference and help them to have a healthier future. We don’t think it’s possible to talk about this too much.
Take it away, CNN:
This all said, what do you land-locked folks think YOU and others like you can do to help out?
Talk to us.
[...] A post from Oceans4Ever, highlighting a CNN video featuring Alexandra Cousteau and explaining why even land-locked folks should care about our oceans. [...]
Well, I may not be landlocked myself, but I think it’s important for people in our nation’s breadbasket be mindful of not over-fertilizing their lawns.
When you over-fertilize, the excess nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorous) end up washing into the Mississippi River, contributing to harmful algal blooms, which in turn contribute to dead zones, where animals that need oxygen can no longer live. The dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi River is the size of the state of Massachusetts–that’s a big space to be dead!
Everyone in the Mississippi River watershed directly impacts the health of the ocean.