The Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most staggering scars we have inflicted on the environment.  An enormous amount of sediment from the Mississippi River,  its tributaries, and petrochemicals and herbicides from domestic and agricultural use, flow down through New Orleans and into the Gulf.

As a consequence, algal blooms overpopulate the water and consume all of the water's oxygen.

Scientists aren't sure how to solve this crisis, but it will involve re-inventing our relationship with farming.