Photo Credit: Fredrik Naumann / Panos Pictures 80% unexploredĪll of this can feel disheartening, yes. This increase has led to oysters and mussels being unable to grow properly, ending up with deformed shells. This great service, which has substantially slowed global warming, has been accomplished at great cost: an increase in acidity. Oceans currently absorb about one third of the CO2 we emit (about 22 million tons a day).
Many fish species are moving toward the poles in response to ocean warming, disrupting fisheries around the world. Mass coral bleaching results in the starvation, shrinkage and death of the corals that support the thousands of species that live on coral reefs. So what does that mean in practice? As greenhouse gases trap more energy from the sun, the oceans absorb more heat which is wreaking havoc on sea life.Ĭoral reefs, including Australia’s famous Great Barrier Reef, are dying. 70% of the planet and we’re changing the chemistry of it.” Susan Ruffo So we’re changing the chemistry of the ocean. Almost a third of it goes into the ocean. “All of the CO2 that we are emitting, that actually gets absorbed by the ocean. Unfortunately, we’ve done a lot of things that are bad for the ocean. Susan Ruffo asks us to think differently about the ocean, what changing its chemistry actually means for the creatures living there and some of the creative ways marine life is already being used to deal with climate problems.
And given how many solutions their unexplored depths might provide to climate problems – that needs to change. They provide half of the oxygen we breathe, absorb almost a third of the world’s carbon and cover 71% of the planet.īut oceans get surprisingly little air time in the climate conversation. Speaking at TED’s Countdown event in Edinburgh, we spoke to the Senior Advisor to the United Nations on Climate and the Ocean following her TED talk, where she asked the audience to reframe the ocean as bearer of climate change solutions. “We’ve just been talking about the ocean as a victim, but I believe that it’s part of the solution,” says ocean adviser for the UN, Susan Ruffo, on the latest episode of the Climate Curious podcast by TEDxLondon. Episode six, Season three of the Climate Curious podcast is now live with our special guest, Susan Ruffo.
0 kommentar(er)
