The Atlantic Cities:&nbsp;
&amp;#8220;For Cleveland, Climate Change Could Mean&nbsp;Tons of&nbsp;Toxic Algae.
John Metcalfe. April 4, 2013
That&amp;#8217;s toxic cyanobacteria swirling in the lake waters north of Cleveland. At the time, this slippery stuff covered nearly one-fifth of Erie&amp;#8217;s surface, becoming the biggest bloom in the lake&amp;#8217;s recorded history. It looked and smelled awful, turned fishing into a hook-detangling nightmare and killed untold numbers of marine creatures by&nbsp;hypoxia.
Worse, the algae&amp;#8217;s loaded with foul substances harmful to the heart, blood and skin of many creatures. A dog that ingests one byproduct called&nbsp;microcystin&nbsp;can curl up and die within hours. (In humans it can cause flu-like symptoms, just in case you&amp;#8217;re about to eat a bowlful.) The algae might also cause fish to&nbsp;change sexes.
The monstrous algae invasion represented a biological throwback to the 1960s, when tons of phosphorus in the&nbsp;Great Lakes&nbsp;seeping from agriculture, sewage systems and industry summoned up bloated algal titans of an immensity never before seen. These blooms disappeared for the most part after the &amp;#8217;70s thanks to the U.S. and Canada enacting the&nbsp;Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. But it appears we&amp;#8217;re mired once again in the days of floating slime, with algae levels creeping up since the &amp;#8217;90s.&amp;#8221;
Image: NASA