Hypoxia and its Dead Zone versus Soil Carbon Credits Yes, MapInfo, we too can contribute..... In the Mid-West agriculture kicks out about $98 billion worth of commodities even in the bad years. And apparently there is another result: the leakage of nitrates, organic nitrogen, and phosphates that are killing one our planet's most productive fisheries in an area about the size of New Jersey adjacent to the Mississippi River's delta. (It also makes the water in New Orleans just plain taste bad and turns your teeth brown!) About ten days ago, October 20th, one of "those darned and damming reports" appeared - like those reports about the Ozone Hole, Global Warming, and Tobacco Does/Does Not Cause Cancer.. Yes, this hypoxia is a really big problem that is doubling in size say every ten years. And its cause conclusion places a target and the National interests-sight directly on the farming systems and sewerage for hog farms and cities alike in 31 states that drain into the Mississippi. For the aggies, the issue is how to cut back say 20 percent of the nitrogen (really nitrogen and phosphate) applied in the region, recover five million acres of wetlands lost over the years to help filter and capture this leakage, and still keep enough families on farms to do all the work. In my opinion, site specific farming systems are an answer - twenty million acres and growing at fifty percent a year. These are very BIG environmental versus society issues that my bet are as real as they are political. They are best articulated, analyzed and presented as Maps. If you are interested, you might take a surf and read about this. The BIG picture and why the EPA is interested.... http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/ An old friend(?) that is part of the solution.... http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/CTIC/CTIC.html And some maps for consideration..... http://wwwrcolka.cr.usgs.gov/midconherb/descriptions.html MidNight Mapper aka Neil Soil Carbon Credits Anyone? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
