I'm sure you've have heard that our climate is changing, that our planet is getting warmer and that the 2016 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880? Or that the polar ice caps are melting and the past 10 years rank among the warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature since 1850? That sea levels are rising and we are exposed to huge surges causing mass coastal flooding? Or the fears about mass extinction of marine animals?
A good majority of us (with the exception of maybe President Trump and his Administration) have now worked out that climate change is real and the consequences of our collective actions to date will affect us, and our loved ones, for many decades to come. Recent research from YALE suggests that whilst people believe that global warming is happening, they also believe that the effects will not be felt until later this century. And that really is not the case.
The way I see it, each and every person living on Earth has a responsibility to change what they do today, and in the future, to ensure our planet actually has a future. We are already reaching those climate tipping point milestone – points of no return – where the damage we done is irrevocable and potentially catastrophic.
Covering about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, our oceans have a two-way relationship with weather and climate. The oceans influence the weather from a local to global scale, while changes in climate can fundamentally alter many properties of the oceans. So it may come as no surprise that our oceans are in fact changing as temperatures warm and greenhouse gas concentrations increase. Warmer temperatures are causing sea level rises and creating greater risk of coastal flooding and storm surges. In addition, carbon dioxide is continuing to dissolve in the ocean, making it more acidic. More acidic ocean water impacts a wide variety of marine species, including species that people use for food.
These changes to the ocean are already having serious economic and environmental impacts. And to end on a sobering though - even if greenhouse emissions stopped overnight the concentrations already in the atmosphere would still mean a global rise of between 0.5 and 1C. And whilst a single degree doesn't sound that bad, it's an average increase across our planet's entire surface. Just 1ºC means the elimination of fresh water from a third of the world’s land surface, low-lying atoll countries - the Maldives - preparing for extinction as sea levels rise, and the mainland coasts and the Eastern US, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Pacific Islands and the Bay of Bengal – will be hit by stronger and stronger hurricanes as the water warms.
But, it’s actually a whole lot worse than this because 99% of our scientific community globally are in agreement that the average increase we face is over 2ºC. Billions of people will ultimately face a tough battle to survive and our oceans will be up to 25m higher than they are today.
No more excuses. Ignorance is not an option for anyone. Think about it.
Comments