Nitrate fertilizer runoff into our rivers and streams kills fish and marine life and is directly responsible for the hundreds of dead zones in our oceans, the most famous of which is the enormous dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
From 2006 to 2007, 15 million new acres of corn were brought into production in the United States, contributing to the depletion of fresh water supplies and adding to agrochemical runoff from the country's corn belt that has already created an enormous dead zone.
And in Nafplio, a seaside city that many consider to be one of the most beautiful on the entire mainland, we spent two early evenings wandering through the enormous pedestrian zone filled with cafes and shops, stopping for ice cream and crepes and the occasional purchase.
When he comes off the track after the heats at London 2012, he will be faced with an enormous mixed zone of reporters from all around the world wanting a piece of his time.
In the Gulf of Mexico, there's an enormous "dead zone" the size of the entire state of New Mexico, where no fish or other animals can live.
As all of this swirled around my head, as I craned my neck to see my boy's anticipatory expressions, his and his classmate's moments of transition, and I realized that my own life was spinning into an enormous new zone as well.
Dr. Lubchenco has documented enormous dead zones in oceans that have resulted from climate change and has advocated placing vast ocean areas off-limits to fishing and mineral exploitation.
"Aided and abetted by a short-sighted federal farm policy," the authors write, "Big [corporate] Ag treats cows barbarously, even as it ruins some of the best soil on the planet, destroys irreplaceable aquifers, fills the air with warming gases, and creates enormous dead zones at the mouths of rivers".
In the temperate zone enormous numbers of orange-winged adults emerge in spring, when male "singing" to attract females for mating can be extremely loud.
