Not to be too alarmist, but algae is coming for all of us. Sure, a little algae may seem harmless, but it’s increasingly showing up around the world in the form of enormous algal blooms that are toxifying the bodies of water we depend on for drinking, fishing, surfing, and gazing upon while thoughtfully pondering. Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, for example, developed a 250-square-mile bloom this past May that devastated waterways along the Atlantic coast. Last summer, 600 miles of the Ohio River were coated in algae, and Lake Erie recently became so choked with algae that Toledo, Ohio’s drinking water was threatened. Africa, Asia, and Europe are all fighting against algae’s relentless encroachment.
What’s the cause, you ask? Runoff, mostly, both rural and urban. Nitrogen and phosphorous from agricultural irrigation,…
