To understand our impact on nature, there is truth in the
saying, “everything is connected.” Few situations illustrate
this concept as dramatically as the agricultural wastes from the
Midwest that contribute so seriously to the aquatic dead zone in
the Gulf of Mexico. Human activities and natural phenomena
occurring on land masses combine to impact air quality and
small-scale climate systems. Wastes and sediments flowing off
lands affect natural concentrations of nutrients in water and
the health of aquatic habitats. Gases suspended in air dissolve
into sea water and disrupt the normal chemistry of oceans. These
releases, often invisible where the problems originate, can have
repercussions in other states or nations through natural systems
that are not at all limited by political boundaries. Time and
distance too often obscure the impacts, hiding unintended or
unknown connections with downstream costs. Take the example of
crops growing hundreds of miles inland in the “I-states,” and
the putrefying aquatic eco