Toxic Algae and Red Tide — The Steep Cost of Factory Farms, by Dr. Joseph Mercola

There’s got to be a better way to farm than by destroying wetlands, lakes, and coastal waters. From Dr. Joseph Mercola at theburningplatform.com:

Story at-a-glance

• Florida is well-known for its aquatic wildlife — a natural resource that is now being rapidly decimated by the influence of factory farms and chemical agriculture
• Red tide, covering an estimated 100 miles of Florida coastline and stretching miles offshore, has persisted for 10 months and shows no signs of abating
• Thousands of animals, including manatees, dolphins, turtles, eels, crabs and other marine animals have washed ashore, dead, killed by the toxic red tide organism Karenia brevis, which now covers the east and west coasts
• Turtles are one of the hardest hit species, including Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, which are on the critically endangered list
• Aside from synthetic fertilizers, manure and glyphosate, biosolids (sewage sludge), which are often used as a “natural” fertilizer, also play a significant role in the creation of algal blooms

Florida is well-known for its aquatic wildlife — a natural resource that is now being rapidly decimated by the influence of factory farms and chemical agriculture, combined with the unpredictable forces of nature.

Over 10 months in late 2017 and 2018, scores of manatees, dolphins, turtles, eels, crabs and other marine animals have washed ashore, dead, killed by toxic Karenia brevis algae — known as red tide — which now covers the east and west coasts.

Lake Okeechobee, which is the source of the problem, is also choked by another algal organism — blue-green cyanobacteria. Both the red tide organism and cyanobacteria are fed by excess nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers.

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