By Beth Bader •
July 2, 2008
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I’ve not posted much yet on the Iowa floods. I think, perhaps, I was holding my breath, waiting to exhale. The exhale is likely to come out more like a long sigh.
While the floods have peaked, Iowans are now dealing with the aftermath. Many of the 36,000-plus who were evacuated have still not returned home. I imagine, when they get there, the real work will begin.
It’s devastating for the state. And, in the wider picture, devastating for all of us. Even if your home was high, dry, and several states away, you, too, will feel the impacts.
Details after the jump.
By Joshua S Hill •
June 22, 2008
If you have visited Planet Save for any length of time you will no doubt have seen me talk about the increasing amount of ‘dead zones’ cropping up across our planets watery surface. In particular, the Gulf of Mexico is home to what is believed to be the largest dead zone in the world: an area larger than Rhode Island that is almost totally devoid of oxygen in the water.
This particular dead zone has formed, in part, thanks to farm runoff that has made its way down the Mississippi River, all the way from Iowa and Wisconsin. Chemicals used on the farms are washed in to local waterways, which all eventually end in the Mississippi which thus makes its way down and out past New Orleans in to the Gulf of Mexico.
