If you pay attention to ecology and conservation…and especially if you listen to me, you are aware of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that usually gets a little larger every summer. You are probably already aware that this year it is several hundred square miles larger than the state of Connecticut. So you know the problem…if not go to my River Refugium Project page and enjoy the primer and my offered solutions.
Assuming you are already down that path, we will move on with todays topic on the subject. Recently, I ran across a series of articles that are basically saying that Arkansas carries a pretty large percentage of blame for this. (mild example) On the positive side, they are also offering some solutions that Arkansas can offer up. From my point of view, these articles are in the target range….but they miss the mark.
First, lets take a look at what they get right. The overall causes of the Dead Zone are excess nutrient in the river system. That pollution is primarily caused by run off from farms and other human civilization based run off. Arkansas does contribute to it. Finally, cleaning up the river systems will greatly alleviate the problem.
What they get wrong is just as simple.
First, while Arkansas is a contributor to the problem; take a look at the map above. That is the feeder system of the Mississippi River. Other than cities, every single bit of it is farmed using similar methods as Arkansas. Oh and the cities contribute their fair share of nutrient waste too. Arkansas’ self loathing aside, they carry no more to blame for this problem than the rest of the country. We have failed to solve the issues of industrial farming, and frankly when we try we tend to make it worse. The problem is vast.
Which leads me to the second part they get wrong. The methods of solving the problem. The good news here is I see some movement towards a multi pronged effort.
The bad news is, most of that effort is still towards trying to convince the farmers for that entire area to completely overhaul they way they produce the food we need, when they struggle to remain profitable now. I am not saying it cant be done. I am saying that is the slower, and less effective way of approaching this issue. Continuing to be frank, we can’t be slow or ineffective here.
The other piece the articles I read get partial credit for. They are right about cleaning up the rivers. The part they lose points for is they want to do it with old school water treatment systems. These are expensive (both up front and continually), less effective than systems that model nature, and because they harvest and resell nutrient, they feed the same farming system that we need to fix.
The short answer is that we use water treatment plants of a sort… but that plants are the operative word in that sentence. We move away from manual filtration involving overdesigned fibers and manufactured chemical processes and instead embrace the proven technologies of aquaponics greenhouses and produce things that we need by growing the products directly from the water that needs cleaned up.
I know that version sounds overly simplified (it is) and like a bunch of purple hippy shit (its really not), but that is because I want to drop that idea off here and then refer you to the other tens of thousands of words I have already dedicated to the River Refugium Project and how we can solve this problem in a profitable way that builds a regenerative industry AND doesn’t put the burden on America’s farmers to change everything they do at a time they can’t afford it.
The system will work. It deserves your support.
One of the biggest positives I see in these articles is that we are not only having a conversation about solving this dead zone issue, but we are talking about it in relation to a state and region that is well positioned to make significant contributions to solving the issue in ways that will benefit them directly.
Arkansas has multiple advantages that will enable them to implement the River Refugium Project.
First is the rule of realty. Location, location location. Only Louisiana and to a lesser degree Mississippi are better positioned to harvest and utilize the massive amounts of nutrient that we are flushing into the Gulf of Mexico every year. Look at the map again and see how much of the rest of the country is trying to feeding Arkansas economy with donated nutrient. Besides the actual location for concentration of Nutrient and access to all of it, Arkansas also has about 320 miles of river frontage on the Mississippi and ANOTHER 320 miles of frontage on the Arkansas river as it meanders across the state.
Next is Climate. Arkansas is on the warm side of a mild climate. If its soil were better, it would lead the nation in farm production. Remove the lack of quality and nutrient from the equation by utilizing the aquaponic systems of the River Refugium Project and suddenly Arkansas is actually leading the pack in terms of non food agricultural products. (unfortunately the river contamination of other run off precludes the safe production of most food crops…but that problem is a solution too- see the next advantage)
Appropriate crop infrastructure. The best crops for this system include textiles, lumber, other tree crops (rubber anyone), and algae for fuel. Arkansas is already a major producer of cotton and other textiles. Arkansas already has fuel refineries in place. Arkansas is currently a leader in developing biofuels. Arkansas is severely underemployed and would benefit greatly from expansions in these areas.
That is the long and the short of it.
Arkansas hasn’t contributed to this problem anymore than Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia AND CANADA; who all feed the Mississippi River through is drainage basin.
But as the headline says, Arkansas does stand to benefit in many ways from implementing the solutions that will fix this problem.
For more information on how to fix Dead Zones in the Gulf of Mexico and the mouth of other rivers, follow this link –>
