Silent Spring and the current crisis in environmentalism

Have you ever had the nightmare where you are staring into the very teeth of doom, and you try to scream ... you scream and scream your head off ... but no sound comes out?

That's what it feels like covering the environment in South Florida for a community newspaper.

In class, we have asked what story would Woodward and Bernstein be working on today. My vote goes to the scoop about how the world's oceans are in crisis and will soon be nothing but viscous tubs of toxic algae if we don't take dramatic steps immediately, according to a consensus of scientists.

A series about this in the Los Angeles Times, entitled "Altered Oceans," won the Pulitzer for explanatory reporting in 2007. But have any of you seen any press about this?

A Primeval Tide of Toxins

Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people.

Here's the Fresh Air interview with one of the reporters of the series.

And here's a report from the Naples Daily News about how the Gulf of Mexico is dying.

Here's the executive summary of the Pew Oceans Commissions report, in which scientists announce that the oceans are in crisis.

And here's the report from U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a massive government study that essentially says the same thing.