AU.S. Geological Survey report about a dead zone of almost 9,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico shows that the oxygen-deprived “hypoxic zone” is the result of animal waste and fertilizer runoff from farms that leech a toxic mixture into the Mississippi River, which eventually flows into the gulf.

 This colossal area is unable to support sea life and threatens the fishing industry. It’s comparable to the toxic plastic continent, reportedly twice the size of Texas, which floats precariously in the Pacific Ocean, killing hundreds of species of marine life that mistakenly ingest the plastic or become entangled in it.

These ecological disasters needing urgent attention are stark reminders that actions in one area can affect areas far away that we feel disconnected from.

 Making efforts to buy produce from farms that don’t release as much animal waste and fertilizer runoffs into the ground and local waterways does not sound as granola-crunching green when we know that the origin of some food we buy is responsible for the killing of a vast swath of marine life, creating a dead zone that is getting larger by the year.

 As for the floating plastic continent: finally giving up plastic supermarket bags and buying a safe metal water bottle to refill for free instead of buying plastic bottled water (much of which is tap water anyway) isn’t such a humongous effort compared to cleaning up the gigantic plastic nightmare floating in the Pacific, much of which comes from simple plastic items we buy and irresponsibly dispose of.