XPost: fl.politics, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

In article <29c73e60-b401-418f-9df2-
a618c974a955n@googlegroups.com>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

Pour some diesel on it and burn the shit.

An enormous carpet of seaweed stretching 5,000 miles is set to
cause problems along the beaches of Florida and Mexico as
scientists become increasingly concerned about the impacts of
the algae.

The "Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt" is a massive bloom of brown
algae that stretches from the coast of West Africa to the Gulf
of Mexico. It is the largest seaweed bloom in the world —
weighing approximately 20 million tons — and is visible from
outer space.

Seaweed is usually fairly innocuous and has benefits like
providing habitats for fish and absorbing carbon dioxide. But
the sargassum spanning about twice the width of the US could
wreak havoc on beaches as ocean currents push it towards land.

While the consequences of the Sargassum Belt have concerned
scientists for the past decade, experts say this year's bloom is
particularly alarming, according to reporting by Denise Chow for
NBC News published Saturday.

"It's incredible," Brian LaPointe, a research professor at
Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institute, told NBC News. "What we're seeing in the satellite
imagery does not bode well for a clean beach year."

LaPointe, who has studied sargassum for four decades, told the
news outlet that beaches in Key West are already being covered
with the algae, despite the piles usually washing ashore in May.
Beaches in Mexico — like in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum
— are also preparing for a large build-up of sargassum this week.

The size of the mass of seaweed is growing each year — with 2018
and 2022 having record-breaking increases, Brian Barnes, an
assistant research professor at the University of South
Florida's College of Marine Science, told NBC News. This year is
approaching these records, he said.

The negative effects of the mass of algae are manifold — it can
destroy coastal ecosystems, suffocate coral, harm wildlife,
threaten infrastructure, and decrease air and water quality,
according to Sky News.

One study in 2019 suggested that deforestation and fertilizer
use may be responsible for the alarming rate at which the mass
is growing — the effects of which are all exacerbated by climate
change.

"I think I've replaced my climate change anxiety with sargassum
anxiety," Patricia Estridge, CEO of Seaweed Generation, told The
Guardian.

Furthermore, as beached sargassum dies and rots, it has a
"distinct rotten-egg smell," Insider previously reported, which
has caused a huge problem for tourism in both Mexico and Florida.

Hotels and resorts in Mexico, for example, spend millions each
year to get rid of beaches of sargassum, hiring workers to
collect it and move it elsewhere.

<https://www.businessinsider.com/massive-seaweed-bloom-floating- atlantic-one-largest-on-record-2023-3>

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