Today is World Oceans Day. As Green Party Leader Elizabeth May wrote in Embassy News recently, it is “a rare time when we actually turn our attention to the source of life on earth. As terrestrial creatures, we tend to forget that life on dry land is not possible without life in our oceans. Our survival is intimately connected to the oceans for the protein we consume from the fisheries, for the role played by oceans in carbon sequestration and moderating climate, among other essential functions.” May warns that “The threats to the health of our oceans are growing as never before.” These threats stem from land-based sources of pollution, over-fishing, aquaculture operations, loss of habitat, and more. The most serious threat is climate change and the rising of ocean temperatures. This has resulted in the bleaching of coral reefs in the tropics and the destruction of cool-water habitats for salmon in Canada. It is also causing the dangerous loss of Arctic ice, threatening the survival of polar bears, who can’t hunt without ice, and the traditional Inuit way of life. Globally, we are seeing new weather extremes, including life-threatening storms, heat waves, and droughts.
As May puts it: “Perhaps the most devastating threat created by our collective failure to effectively limit the growth in greenhouse gas emissions is that of ocean acidification. The increased level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is transferring carbon to our oceans. The gases in the atmosphere and water mix. Carbon moves from atmosphere to ocean … Over the last 200 years, it is estimated that the oceans have absorbed about one-third of all the greenhouse gases released through human activity. Certainly, the climate crisis would be more aggressive and dangerous if the oceans had not been providing this key ‘netting out’ effect. However, as that carbon loading has continued unabated, the carbon in the ocean is changing the chemistry of ocean water. Generally, ocean water is alkaline (or basic). However, as carbon mixes and changes in its chemistry, it becomes carbonic acid.
Over time, the ocean is becoming acidified. The impact of ocean acidification is already having measurable impacts in weakening the shells of crustaceans. All crustaceans need carbonate in order to build shells, but carbonic acid is corrosive to crustacean shells. The potential assault on all crustaceans would have a devastating impact on the food chain ultimately threatening all life in the ocean …” Awareness of what is going on in those vast areas of water is the first step to acting on their behalf.