Saturday, December 20, 2008

The relationship between fertilizer and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

We discussed this important issue in the class I took this semester. A downside of growing corn crops, besides the one I discussed yesterday, is the amount of nitrogen fertilizer that is used and eventually runs off to the Gulf of Mexico, creating a dead zone, or hypoxia.

The Discovery Channel's website related this to America's consumption of meat. As our meat consumption is largely driven by large amounts of corn fed to cattle, chicken, and pigs, I think it is important to consider the relationship between the sustainability of those crops and the meat that is ultimately served in our homes and restaurants.

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