Time for Climate Control
Devastating, out-of-control wildfires. The hottest June on record in North America, including a jaw-dropping heatwave in the Pacific Northwest that killed hundreds of people and millions of sea creatures.
This is a snapshot of Summer 2021, and a frightening warning for the consequences we could face if we fail to take meaningful action against climate change.
Climate change and ocean health have been portrayed as two separate issues in the mainstream media. Widespread media coverage of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and trash-covered beaches have raised important awareness of the global plastic pollution crisis, but the issue has largely been missing from conversations about the collective actions we need to take ASAP to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
We absolutely need to protect our oceans and to advance a plastic pollution solution in order to tackle the climate crisis. Here’s why:
1. The ocean serves as the planet’s climate control system.
To date, the ocean has absorbed about 30% of the carbon emissions humans have created since the start of the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago.
Microscopic plant life on the ocean’s surface, called Phytoplankton, absorbs CO2 through photosynthesis. Many ocean animals also use CO2 to build their protective shells. When they die their shells become part of the ocean floor sediment, effectively removing the CO2 from the ocean. And finally, when surface waters cool and sink they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and transport it to the deep ocean - where it could take hundreds or thousands of years to return to the surface
2. Protecting biodiversity in the ocean preserves the planet’s largest carbon sink.
Plastic pollution currently kills 1 million+ seabirds and over 100,000 marine mammals every year. We need to eliminate plastic from marine and coastal areas ASAP to protect these animals, because a thriving ecosystem is essential to protecting the planet’s carbon sink/climate control system.
As Ocean Conservancy reports, “the oceans are replete with plants and animals that can help mitigate climate change by removing and retaining a portion of CO2 from the atmosphere. For example, marine algae, the ocean’s mightiest CO2 consumer yet, is also one of its smallest, converting upwards of 42 gigatons of the gas into living plant biomass each year.
3. Plastic is being burned in countries without waste management infrastructure - releasing powerful greenhouse gasses and cancer-causing toxins.
Many developing nations lack formalized waste management systems - meaning there is no centralized collection of trash, never mind recycling infrastructure of landfill space to deal with it.
Many of these countries and island states have no choice but to burn their plastic waste - releasing huge amounts of C02 along with hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, dioxins, furans and heavy metals that cause cancers, respiratory disease, and stress immune systems. The combination is a gut punch for the climate and human health.
We need your help to keep the ocean functioning as our planet’s climate control system!
SeaChange has a solution for the plastic pollution choking our oceans and threatening our climate. We all benefit from protecting the interconnected systems that regulate climate and make life on earth possible. It’s time for us to join forces and take action.