How eating meat creates a 'dead zone' the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico every year

REUTERS/Robert Pratta

• Eating meat contributes to an ongoing ecological disaster in the Gulf Mexico, where sea life gets suffocated in a '"dead zone" the size of New Jersey.
• Nutrient pollution from intensive agriculture washes into the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River, causing phytoplankton blooms. As the phytoplankton decomposes, huge portions of the Gulf get starved of oxygen.
• Beyond killing sea life, the Gulf of Mexico dead zone has disastrous ramifications for the area's economic engine — its fisheries.

Of all the ways to help combat climate change and environmental degradation, cutting meat out of your diet — or at least reducing how much you eat — is probably one of the easiest, and most effective.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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