Global Warming

Corals, lobsters, and many other ocean creatures are unlikely to withstand the increasing acidity of the oceans brought on by global warming, according to a new report from Oceana.

Our new report, "Acid Test," examines the far-reaching consequences of the accumulation of heat-trapping gases, particularly carbon dioxide, in the world's oceans.

High levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in seawater deplete the carbonate that marine animals need for their shells and skeletons. Creatures that are at risk if trends continue include corals, commercial fish, including shrimp and lobster; and pteropods, or swimming sea snails, which are an important part of the base of polar and sub-polar food chains.

We are calling for a reduction of CO2 emissions in industrialized countries by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The key findings of the report include:

The International Maritime Organization’s recent decision to adopt tighter emission rules for the global shipping fleet is a step in the right direction in an industry where emissions have been practically unregulated. Ship emissions are blamed for 60,000 deaths worldwide each year – a sincere public health threat.

The new rules, however, only address sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide emissions from the same ships remain a major, and often overlooked, contributor to global warming.

The world’s shipping fleet comprises 300,000 ships, each a city block in length, and transports 90 percent of the world’s trade. In 2007, the fleet emitted nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as all of America’s cars combined. If the fleet were a country, it’d be ranked as the sixth largest producer of CO2, between Japan and Germany.

Not to mention that these ships use the dirtiest fuel available, creating a high percentage of unusable sludge that must be burned.

As global warming is rapidly melting glaciers and causing sea water to thermally expand, scientists are working hard to make realistic predictions on the extent of sea level rise that could occur by the end of the 21st century.

In a 2007 report, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), predicted a rise of 0.6-2 ft by 2100 and now researchers are estimating an even greater increase. A new report published in Science provides a new estimate of sea level rise: As much as 2.6-6.6 ft (0.8-2 m) by 2100, based on the rate of possible future glacier melt.

I hate to do this to y'all, but...

BBC has more bad news about Arctic ice loss, just a few days after I wrote about it on Friday.

Seems as though there's about to be another broken record on this front... and I'm going to start sounding like one.

So here's a little something to momentarily cheer you up.

Occasionally I write a "Friday Victories" blog -- if there's some particularly good news to report. Unfortunately, today's not one of those occasions.

Unless it's a victory for climate change, that is. With three weeks of the melting season to go, this year's Arctic ice pack is the second smallest ever recorded on satellite.

So chances are, in a few weeks, I'll be writing another blog reporting that the ice has shrunk even smaller than last year, claiming the record.

Learn more about climate change and the Arctic at http://oceana.org/climate and http://www.protectthearctic.org/.

[Image via www.smh.com.au]

This morning the CBS Early Show featured our marine scientist Margot Stiles in a segment about this summer's preponderance of jellyfish. Why all the jellies? Suspected reasons include the overfishing and bycatch of their predators, such as the loggerhead sea turtle, tuna and swordfish, as well as pollution and global warming.

I know I've been harping on the plastics/pollution issue a lot lately, but it seems like the din around the issue is growing louder. First, there's the Junk Raft, project of Algalita Marine Research Foundation. The blog's tagline is, "Sailing [from California] to Hawaii on 15,000 plastic bottles and a Cessna 310, to raise awareness about plastic fouling our oceans." Yesterday was the raft's one-month mark at sea, and they say they have an estimated eight more weeks to go.

Get this: the AP reports that federal researchers are canceling and cutting back on voyages aimed at studying climate change and ocean ecosystems so they can save money on boat fuel.

The New York Times reports that diplomats from the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, and Denmark recently came to agreements about the possibility that global warming will make Arctic waters more accessible to shipping fleets and energy extractors.

And you thought DDT was a thing of the past...

Although worldwide use of DDT has decreased from 40,000 tons per year in 1980 to 1,000 tons per year today, with the U.S. banning most uses in 1972, DDT is still showing up in the Antarctic. Spurred by global warming, previously frozen insecticide particles are being released through glacier meltdown.