The image above depicts the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where nothing can survive. However, if you look at the date, 2008, this is not the result of the recent oil spill.
This 8,000 square mile dead zone in 2008 is one of the largest in all of the earth's waters and it comes back year after year, larger than the year before despite efforts to reduce it.
There is no question that the recent Gulf oil spill is a catastrophe and at about 7,500 square miles, the spill is almost as large as the 2008 dead zone. With good planning, the clean up of the Gulf over the next few decades will also address the ongoing dead zone problem as well as the oil spill.
The only difference between the previous dead zones over the last few decades and the oil spill, is that we have one company to point our finger at and blame for the dead fish, birds, shrimp and crabs. With previous dead zones we would have had to blame the Midwestern farmers, not a particularly popular group to blame since they provide us with food.
In today's world, we all need oil almost as much as we need food and we all should share the blame for the previous dead zones in the Gulf as well as this latest catastrophe. We will all have to make sacrifices to repair the damage to the Gulf, are you ready?
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