Nature & Environment

Oceans Gave Up On Mankind, How Can We Win It Back?

Alex Davis
First Posted: Sep 07, 2016 12:21 PM EDT

Oceans are on their limit in protecting us. They have been absorbing most of the CO2 emissions caused by mankind. The report shows that they are so close to giving up.

Oceans are the most affected by global warming. Research shows that dying of corals and the decrease of fish stocks is one of the signs that the ocean has already given up. People experience the consequences directly by undergoing extreme weather changes, such as the hurricane, according to National Geographic.

Meanwhile, Research made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) states; oceans have been shielding us from the effects of climate change. It absorbs 93 percent of the excess CO2 from human industrial activity which radiates through the atmosphere. Since the 1970's surface temperature could have been risen by 36° Celsius instead, with the help of the oceans it only rises at about 0.5°.

Marine vice chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas at IUCN, Dan Laffoley said, "The Ocean has been shielding us and the consequences of this are absolutely massive."

Meanwhile, experts from 12 countries, with over eighty scientists made a report that oceans are getting debilitated and cause disease among humans and animals. International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN) researchers shows the result of their peer-reviewed research entitled "Explaining Ocean Warming," and explained this in Hawaii during the Word Conversation Congress.  The report said that this phenomenon was caused by global warming and even threatens the food security around the planet.

According to South China Morning Post, Director General of ICUN Inger Andersen said, "We all know that the oceans sustain this planet. We all know that the oceans provide every second breath we take, and yet we are making the oceans sick."

In line with this, experts predicted that by 2050, all the world's reefs can be bleached due to a warmer temperature. The bleaching occurs when symbiotic algae depart en masse leaving the corals starving. In result people who lives near the oceans are at risk of illness because warmer oceans spread pathogens which carry cholera bacteria and algal blooms which can cause neurological diseases

In order to stop this, executive vice president at the nonprofit organization Conservation International and a marine expert, Greg Stone, suggests that treating the ocean like a sick patient that has a temperature.  To lower the temperature people have to stop polluting the atmosphere with carbon, which he knows that it not an easy task.

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