• Water

Maine’s Lakes on Thin Ice

• algal bloom
• climate change
• fish
• ice-out
• nitrogen
• phosphorus
• toxic algae

The ice-out date for Maine’s Lake Auburn is now three weeks earlier than it was two centuries ago, the Portland Press Herald reports, and other lakes across New England show similar trends. Climate change is not good for ice, and that includes Maine’s lakes that freeze over every winter. 

Why This Matters: A disrupted winter with lakes that “defrost” earlier has multiple knock-on effects for freshwater: in addition to harming fish in lakes, the resulting large cyanobacteria algae blooms that form can be harmful to human health.

• Ocean

Experts Predict Huge Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico this Summer

• #Cleanwater
• dead zone
• Gulf of Mexico
• hypoxia
• Mississippi River
• nitrogen
• phosphorus
• runoff

Yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its annual prediction of the size of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic or “dead” zone and it is expected to be nearly 8,000 square miles (roughly the size of the State of Massachusetts) and could rival the largest one ever, which happened in 2017.  This year’s […]

• Land

Nitrogen Fertilizer’s Double Whammy

• ammonia
• farming
• fertilizer
• nitrogen

Farmers rely on nitrogren fertilizer to cultivate their crops and feed our nation but the excessive application of the chemicals that help crops grow also pose serious environmental risks elsewhere. In addition to creating toxic runoff, the production of ammonia for fertilizer may result in up to 100 times more methane emissions than previously estimated. […]