Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' is already a disaster - but it could get worse

The ultimate cause of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone can be found many miles inland

Each summer, a large part of the Gulf of Mexico “dies”. This year, the Gulf’s “dead zone” is the largest on record, stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi, along the coast of Louisiana to waters off Texas, hundreds of miles away. Around 8,776 square miles of ocean, an area the size of New Jersey or Wales, is almost lifeless.

John Muir, the famed naturalist and early conservation campaigner, once said that: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” His point was that