Half of US rivers are so polluted "they are unable to sustain life".

Paging General Sherman, paging General Sherman.

I've been trying to find the original source for the Fox article but it has been frustrating as Fox doesn't even provide a name much less a link back to the original source material. I believe it is referring to the 2013 National Rivers and Streams Assessment but that's just my guess. Other sources provide a more accurate summary of what the source said without the sensationalism of the Fox report. Believe it or not HuffPo did a good job though all they did was reprint an AP wire story on the matter. I'll quote the AP story via HuffPo as, like good journalists are supposed to do these days, they actually link to the original source material.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...-rivers-and-streams-assessment_n_2956864.html

Just another reason not to bother with Fox, IMHO.

And finally the original report from the EPA: http://1.usa.gov/YG8IQT

^ Actually, even the Fox News article wasn't all that bad (for once), it's just the title that was all wrong. But this article at least has a correct title.

This is something I would like to see happen in the US. The EU is currently moving to ban a group of pesticides known as neonicatinoids which has been behind the dramatic collapse of bee populations world wide. Yes, there will be side effects as either new pesticides will have to be developed, old more toxic pesticides will have to be brought back, or we'll have to push for greater organic farming methods like companion cropping. Personally, I think it can be done mostly organically and keeping pesticides and chemical fertilizers as a last resort for farmers but it would mean big changes to the agriculture industry and that would likely drive up prices a bit in the short run as farmers invest in new methods.

Still, we're screwed without bees and these neonicatinoids supposedly wipe out just about every insect that comes near them including bees and that's not good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22346626

BTW there are some cool graphs in the PDF of the EPA's report showing which regions have the worst water quality and the report goes into great detail about its methodology and findings. I bring that up as I recall EP was saying it was "100% bullshit". Anyone can review it if they don't mind reading ~150 pages.

LOL, Poor Tuttle had to go back three months to find a post to neg rep. Keep up the good work, grumpy.

Go breed in a river.