Why World Oceans Day Matters
While covid-19 continues to have a deep impact on the lives of so many across the globe, it's easy to forget there are other pressing issues concerning public health.
Today marks the 12th official World Oceans Day, where scientists and citizens take part in advocating for the protection of the world’s oceans, and raising awareness about their importance to everyday life. It isn’t common knowledge for example, that over half the world’s oxygen is produced by organisms in the water, and more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide we release into the air is absorbed into the ocean. While this greatly reduces CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere, it has the painful effect of turning oceans more acidic, harming any number of marine organisms.
There has been much talk of late about passing a ‘Green New Deal’, an extensive piece of legislation that would address climate related issues at all levels, from housing and jobs to ecological conservation and energy use. A group of scientists in April published a paper where they proposed a ‘teal deal’, in which they advocate for integrating oceans into climate policies going forward. The authors of the paper believe such a model will be most effective in achieving marine conservation goals, writing that:
We highlight a policy framework to develop terrestrial and ocean‐integrated policies that can complement and enhance terrestrial‐focused initiatives focused on four specific sectors: 1) energy; 2) transportation; 3) food security; and 4) habitat restoration. Given political friction and constrained budgets, an integrated policy framework offers greater potential to achieve a portfolio of mitigation and adaptation goals in a cost‐effective manner, beyond what could be realized with marine or terrestrial policy solutions alone.
If the goal of a Green New Deal is to be as comprehensive as possible, it seems including explicit protections for our oceans would certainly be prudent. Especially in the current coronavirus climate as it has been found that organisms who live at extreme depths can be used to speed up the detection of covid-19.
The Trump administration has made it clear that they don’t support the advancement of science (save for the favorite “industries of the future” like AI which Trump had earmarked for increased funding in the FY21 budget proposal), so it’s up to us to support it where we can, and continue to push for comprehensive Climate legislation.
You can take part in World Oceans Day events online here, and on twitter using #WorldOceansDay and #ProtectOurHome
