EarthEcho Expeditions Virtual Field Trip: Into the Dead Zone

Join us and Dr. Sturdivant as we take a deep dive into the preeminent scourge of our ocean, dead zones. Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans and large lakes, caused by excessive nutrient pollution from human activities coupled with other factors that deplete the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom water.

Into the Dead Zone
Video

How-To Install a Rain Barrel

Beyond the Dead Zone

EarthEcho Youth Taking Action

Shell Shocked

Dead Zones Around the World

This lesson plan utilizes Google's My Maps and real data compiled by the World Resources Institute to examine eutrophicatic events around the United States and countries across the world.

Into the Dead Zone

Video Worksheet: What Happens When We Eat?

Into the Dead Zone

RainCheck: A Guide for Stormwater Action

Into the Dead Zone

Scientist Profile: Jenny Newland

Jenny Newland, executive director of Canaan Valley Institute, uses science everyday to focus on improving water quality in rural areas of the Central Appalachians. She works with different groups and people from all over her region to find sites and develop plans for stream restoration projects. She also uses math and business skills daily to develop budgets that estimate how much projects will cost to complete so that communities can raise funds to protect their water resources.

Into the Dead Zone

Scientist Profile: Stephen Reiling

When most people think of Washington, D.C. they think of a large city with a lot of concrete and not a lot of nature. For Stephen Reiling, an Environmental Protection Specialist in the Water Protection Division of the District Department of the Environment, there’s is a lot more to D.C. than concrete and office buildings. His job brings him to a lot of the beautiful, natural places within city limits that many local residents don’t notice.

Into the Dead Zone

Scientist Profile: Sally Hurlbert

Looking out on the Big Meadow in Shenandoah National Park, it’s not hard to understand what drew Sally Hurlbert to her job here and also what has kept her here for a number of years. Sally is a Park Ranger in Shenandoah National Park, a job that allows her to combine her deep love of the natural world with a talent for sharing her knowledge with others. Her work as an outdoor educator allows Sally to teach people about the natural resources of the park. This allows her to explore many different disciplines of science like wildlife biology, botany, aquatic biology and chemistry, and geology.

Into the Dead Zone

Scientist Profile: Adriane Michaelis

Adriane Michaelis, a faculty research assistant at the Paynter Oyster Research lab at University of Maryland, is getting paid for doing what she loves: SCUBA diving! But her job isn’t just, “getting paid to do what many people pay a good bit to do.” She’s doing some very important work to help protect the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond.

Into the Dead Zone