The longest river in the USA and third largest in the world, the Mississippi drains 40 percent of the country, including the majority of its farming heartland. At present, there are no federal laws governing pollution being dumped into the Mississippi River, and last year alone some 817,000 tons of nitrogen made its way into the Gulf of Mexico via the river. These agricultural chemicals have led to the largest ever ‘deadzone’ (an area so starved of oxygen that it cannot sustain life) in the history of the Gulf.
The Mississippi River is one of the largest rivers in the world and drains 40% of the USA. Chemical fertilizers from industrial agriculture and urban runoff are contributing to create one of the largest dead zones in the world in the Gulf of Mexico.
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The longest river in the USA and third largest in the world, the Mississippi drains 40 percent of the country, including the majority of its farming heartland. At present, there are no federal laws governing pollution being dumped into the Mississippi River, and last year alone some 817,000 tons of nitrogen made its way into the Gulf of Mexico via the river. These agricultural chemicals have led to the largest ever ‘deadzone’ (an area so starved of oxygen that it cannot sustain life) in the history of the Gulf.
Farmers and fishermen share one thing in common: the Mississippi River watershed. In this video, the team compares how both impact and are impacted by degradation of the river and its natural systems.
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Alexandra and the team spend their final days on the Mississippi River visiting again with the Cajun people living at the frayed edges of the bayou close to the Gulf of Mexico. Talk to any locals here and you’ll find that their biggest concern is land loss. Louisiana is disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 25 to 35 square miles of land a year, nearly a football field every hour.
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St. Louis marks a dividing line in the Mississippi River. To the north, in Minnesota, it is a national treasure attracting more people for recreation than Yellowstone National Park. To the south, it is hardly a river anymore. It more closely resembles a drainage pipe.
As it journeys through the middle of America, the Mississippi suffers the bombardments of human civilization, deteriorating with each mile. Several factors contribute to its degradation. For one, the river becomes more and more polluted with run-off from the whopping 40 percent of US land that it drains: chemical fertilizers from agriculture, industrial toxins, as well as sewage and waste. By the time it reaches Louisiana, the water is so filthy that the government advises against eating the fish or swimming in the river.
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Alexandra Cousteau speaks with Louisiana native Tab Benoit, President of Voice of the Wetalnds. Benoit has watched the wetlands of Louisiana disappear over the years with his own eyes. He believes they can be saved by letting the Mississippi River run its natural course.
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