Front Page News

Nice to see the ocean as front page news. Not so nice the context, but it certainly deserves the spotlight.

It's clear from the Ocean Faces Mass Extinction in the New York Times that we are killing the ocean right now. Forget Shakespeare, this is a tragedy like we’ve never seen before.

I would have liked the article to describe a little more about why we should care about the ocean, like it produces most of the oxygen we breathe and it feeds over a billion people daily. 

Also, ocean acidification deserves more attention. Of all the ills, and there are many, changing the chemistry of the sea by pumping excess carbon into the air has the potential to undermine everything marine. Already, scientists have found that even slightly more acidic ocean waters support fewer phytoplankton, the foundation of the food web. 

If tiny plankton that fuel ocean life can’t survive in the more acidic waters, then it does not matter how many ocean reserves we set aside or how many fish we leave. 

There are things we can do.  The number one way to help the ocean – and to check ocean acidification -- is to support clean energy and any reduction in carbon. 

As odd as it may sound, what we do on land impacts the entire ocean, including those vast reaches far out of sight, but hopefully, not out of mind.