Dystopia
August 1980: the Eaux et rivières de Bretagne association sounds the alarm about the proliferation of green algae on the Breton coast. March 2013: the Nantes administrative court of appeal
condemns the State to compensate the municipalities affected by this invasion due to “deficiencies in the implementation of European and national regulations intended to protect waters from any pollution of agricultural origin”. Between these two dates, what happened? “Sea lettuce” continued to regularly invade the semi-open bays, notably those of Lannion and St Brieuc, whose hinterland is the spearhead of the pork industry. 90,000 tonnes in 2009, abundantly nourished by nitrogen from the nearly 10 million tonnes of slurry dumped on agricultural land in the watersheds. But we are not touching the industrial pork sector! As it decomposes on beaches, green algae releases hydrogen sulphide. A gas which can kill and which has already killed wild boars and a horse and which everything indicates is responsible for the death of a jogger in 1989 and of a driver of a collection vehicle in 2009, as well as two other serious accidents.