Global Warming
There’s an important relationship between the atmosphere and our oceans, which is out of balance due to climate change pollution. Oceans, like forests, cannot fully absorb all of these greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, ocean levels continue to rise and become warmer and more acidic.
As oceans warm, they lose their ability to absorb carbon dioxide, causing them to become “acidified.” As global temperatures rise, polar ice caps melt, which raises sea levels. Both of these changes are causing coral reefs—which are critical to coastal protection, home to 25% of all marine life and provide sustenance to millions of species and humans—to not only stop growing but to actually dissolve.
The consequences of warmer ocean waters could be catastrophic for millions of ocean species who will be unable to adapt to higher temperatures. There will be a collapse of marine food chain, as many species will be unable find a livable habitat and not be able to survive. This will affect everything from plankton to polar bears, and ultimately humans, who are dependent on fish for survival.
Rising sea levels due to global warming pollution are a major threat to the economic livelihood, safety and health of the millions of people who inhabit coastal communities worldwide. The number of environmental refugees worldwide will continue to grow as coastal areas and islands are destroyed. The loss of Arctic and Antarctic ice does not bode well for birds or marine mammals, such as the endangered polar bear, whose hunting and breeding grounds will disappear.
Multimedia:
NRDC’s film Acid Test, featuring Sigourney Weaver, is now available in its entirety:See how the melting arctic ice affects
polar bears:
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What You Can Do
- Make your own ocean safe household cleaners.
- Tell your senators to help save our oceans by passing strong climate legislation.
- Support legislation to classify polar bears as endangered.
- Eat less meat. Livestock accounts for 1/5 of all greenhouse gas emissions.
- Drive less. By taking one car off the road for one day’s average commute, you will be saving an estimated 26 lbs of CO2.
- Buy efficient electric appliances; they use two to 10 times less electricity for the same functionality, and are mostly higher quality products that last longer than the less efficient ones. In short, efficient appliances save you energy and money.
- Consider using a clothesline to dry clothes or a gas-fired dryer, which uses 60% less energy than standard dryers.
- Tell Congress the ocean is the front line in the fight against climate change.
Fast Facts
- Sea levels could rise between three to six feet this century if current warming trends continue. This will result in major coastal erosion and threaten the health, safety and economic viability of many coastal communities.
- The island of Lohachara, home to some 10,000 people, disappeared beneath the surface of the Bay of Bengal in 2006. In 2007, one hundred residents of Tegua Island in the Pacific Ocean had to be evacuated due to rising sea levels.
- Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing which severely threatens polar bears who are dependent upon sea ice, hundreds of miles from land, to survive. 30% of their population is expected to disappear in the next 45 years.
- In the past four years, 10% of coral reefs have died and many more are threatened if waters continue to warm.
- An expected 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit rise in global temperatures by the end of the century would mean as much as a six-foot rise in sea levels.
- Warming waters will mean a significant decline in cold-water fish, such as trout and salmon.
