The Disappearing Marshes

Climate change is having dramatic effects across the world as can be seen with massive droughts and floods, extreme heat waves and melting ice caps. Though for some reason it is the little things that hit close to home that can have the greatest impact. Here in New York City the marshes of Jamaica Bay look beautiful from the air coming into JFK or actually being out in the bay on a boat. The problem is that in twenty years, they'll be gone.

From 1010 WINS:

No one knows for sure why the marshes are disappearing. A host of possible reasons is being looked at, from lack of sediment to renew the marshes flowing into the bay because of urban development to sea level rise to the city's four wastewater treatment plants feeding the system more nitrogen than it can handle.

"Research has looked at a handful of contributing factors, none of them have emerged as a clear cause," said Steve Zahn, a program manager for a marine resources unit for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Some are convinced that excessive nitrogen from the city's wastewater treatment plants plays a big role. The nitrogen, a byproduct from the water treatment process, feeds algae blooms, which then die off and are decomposed by bacteria which end up using a lot of oxygen, leaving less in the system.

The city acknowledges that more nitrogen than the system can handle is being discharged into the bay, but also says the science isn't definitive for that being the main problem of the marshland loss.

There is a main problem in this equation, just not a specific one. The problem is climate change fueled by the way we live on this planet. The increasing carbon output along with how we treat our waste is all indicative of a wasteful society that dumps its garbage on mother nature and pollutes the air that we all breathe. Losing the marshes of Jamaica Bay will be only one of many consequences of not cleaning up our act fast enough.