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What It’s Like to Swim in an Ocean That’s 100 Degrees

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For a moment, as I followed the stories of this summer’s devastating global heat wave, I found it hard to accept that our climate crisis has already become this catastrophic. The tragedies in Greece. The unrelenting, monthlong, historic high temperatures through wide corridors of the United States. The emerging forecasts that none of this is likely to be an aberration.

Then, a few weeks ago, the ocean temperature off Miami hit 95 degrees. A visceral alarm gripped my entire being. I kept repeating the number in stunned disbelief. It couldn’t possibly hold, I told myself — and it didn’t. By the end of the month, at least one reading had soared past 100 degrees.…  Seguir leyendo »

Une masse d’algues sargasses s’est formée dans l’Océan Atlantique. Ici à Key West, en Floride, mai 2023. — © JOE RAEDLE / Getty Images via AFP

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Partout sur la Terre, le constat est le même. Crise climatique et érosion de la biodiversité s’entremêlent, s’emballent et s’intensifient. Les océans n’échappent pas à la règle. Les conséquences du changement climatique provoqueront des disparitions d’espèces aquatiques ainsi que des difficultés économiques pour les populations qui en vivent.

Réorienter les capitaux pour plus d’impact

Ces grands enjeux de notre siècle changent également les équations des entreprises et des marchés financiers. L’investissement à impact sur les marchés cotés s’en est saisi et nous sommes convaincus que son rôle est décisif pour drainer les capitaux vers les entreprises engagées en faveur du climat et de la biodiversité.…  Seguir leyendo »

Pushing a bicycle down a flooded road, Mumbai, August 2020. Hemanshi Kamani / Reuters

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“Keep 1.5 alive”. For years, that phrase has been the rallying cry for climate advocates. Enshrined in the 2015 Paris climate accord, the 1.5-degree Celsius figure is the world’s aspirational limit for average global temperature rise. For those well versed in climate science, it serves as a shorthand for avoiding the worst consequences of climate change—the threats to nearly every aspect of human life that stem from rising global temperatures. Behind the 1.5-degree veil await more destructive storms, catastrophic coastal flooding, rampant hunger and disease, extreme and deadly heat waves, and the demise of the world’s remaining coral reefs.

But the 1.5-degree slogan does not adequately convey these threats.…  Seguir leyendo »

Una ruta más rápida a un transporte marítimo más ecológico

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Hace poco se realizó en Lisboa la Conferencia de la ONU sobre los Océanos, el evento más importante del año sobre este tema, con delegados de más de 190 países. En la ceremonia de apertura, el Secretario General de la ONU António Guterres urgió a los gobiernos a “elevar su nivel de ambición por la recuperación de la salud de los océanos”.

Los gobiernos deben prestar atención a esta petición. El cambio climático se ha convertido en un factor constante del declive de los océanos. El ascenso de los niveles del mar, la degradación de los arrecifes de coral y fenómenos meteorológicos costeros cada vez más graves anuncian un futuro sombrío para un ecosistema que abarca casi tres cuartos de nuestro planeta.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘The clear, persistent rise over the past three to four decades is unmistakable evidence of an Earth that is out of balance.’ Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

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I was fortunate to play a small part in a new study, just published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, which shows that the Earth broke yet another heat record last year. Twenty-three scientists from around the world teamed up to analyze thousands of temperature measurements taken throughout the world’s oceans. The measurements, taken at least 2,000 meters (about 6,500ft) deep and spread across the globe, paint a clear picture: the Earth is warming, humans are the culprit, and the warming will continue indefinitely until we collectively take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

We used measurements from the oceans because they are absorbing the vast majority of the heat associated with global warming.…  Seguir leyendo »

Container ships earlier this month at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, Calif. The United States and 21 other countries have agreed to open green shipping corridors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News)

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COP26 didn’t produce the big breakthroughs for climate change that many had hoped. Yet for maritime shipping, the U.N. Climate Change Conference was a major success.

The United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and others — 22 countries in all — signed the Clydebank Declaration for Green Shipping Corridors, a new framework for reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The signatories commit to establishing “zero-emission maritime routes” for ships using clean marine fuels such as methanol or ammonia.

They plan to establish six of these green corridors by 2025 and scale up further by “supporting the establishment of more routes, longer routes and/or having more ships on the same routes,” according to the declaration.…  Seguir leyendo »

An iceberg cleaves from Antarctica’s Pine Island glacier in February 2020. Photograph: Esa Handout/EPA

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Sea levels are going to rise, no matter what. This is certain. But new research I helped produce shows how much we could limit the damage: sea level rise from the melting of ice could be halved this century if we meet the Paris agreement target of keeping global warming to 1.5C.

The aim of our research was to provide a coherent picture of the future of the world’s land ice using hundreds of simulations. But now, as I look back on the two years it took us to put the study together, what stands out is the theme of connection running through it all – despite the world being more disconnected than ever.…  Seguir leyendo »

The US army corps of engineers distributes sand along the beach in Miami Beach, Florida. The project is part of a $16m scheme to widen the beaches in an effort to fight erosion and protect properties from storm surges. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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The climate emergency is bigger than many experts, elected officials, and activists realize. Humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions have overheated the Earth’s atmosphere, unleashing punishing heat waves, hurricanes, and other extreme weather – that much is widely understood.

The larger problem is that the overheated atmosphere has in turn overheated the oceans, assuring a catastrophic amount of future sea level rise.

As oceans heat up the water rises in part because warm water expands but also because the warmer waters have initiated major melt of polar ice sheets. As a result, average sea levels around the world are now all but certain to rise by at least 20 to 30 feet.…  Seguir leyendo »

Una triple victoria para los océanos, para el clima y para nosotros

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En noviembre pasado, algo lo suficientemente inusual sucedió en el medio del Atlántico Sur como para que un pingüino de penacho amarillo norteño local levantara una de sus largas cejas amarillas puntiagudas. El pequeño archipiélago de Tristán de Acuña, un territorio de ultramar británico, destinó más de 687.000 kilómetros cuadrados (una superficie más grande que Francia) de océano para establecer la cuarta área marina protegida (AMP) más grande del mundo.

Tristán de Acuña alberga las áreas de cría de más de tres cuartas partes de los pingüinos de penacho amarillo norteños que quedan en el mundo, una especie en peligro. Ahora que el ecosistema del archipiélago está protegido de la pesca industrial que tiene como blanco la presa del pingüino, los científicos esperan que esta especie icónica se pueda recuperar.…  Seguir leyendo »

Nuestras acciones cotidianas determinarán la evolución de nuestro planeta: salud y consciencia planetaria. Jimena Uribe Cortés, Author provided

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El cambio de década nos trae el regalo de la Década de la Ciencia Oceánica para el Desarrollo Sostenible. Es muy oportuno, por tanto, destacar que los océanos no solo son el elemento esencial y central de la vida en nuestro planeta, son también los grandes reguladores del cambio climático.

Una de las claves del control climático planetario yace en la circulación global profunda, también conocida como la cinta transportadora global, una gran corriente que alcanza las regiones abisales de todos los océanos del planeta.

Esta corriente planetaria se origina en aguas superficiales a altas latitudes en el Atlántico Norte y alrededor del continente antártico.…  Seguir leyendo »

Credit Liu Shiping/Xinhua, via Getty Images

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Even as the United States and China confront deep disagreements, there is a global challenge that simply won’t wait for the resolution of our differences: climate change.

While some have decided that we are entering a new Cold War with China, we can still cooperate on critical mutual interests. After all, even at the height of 20th-century tensions, the Americans and the Soviets negotiated arms control agreements, which were in the interests of both countries.

Climate change, like nuclear proliferation, is a challenge of our own making — and one to which we hold the solution. We have an opportunity this month to make clear that great power rivalries aside, geopolitics must end at the water’s edge — at the icy bottom of our planet in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds the entire continent of Antarctica.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Mediterranean Sea is a hotspot of marine biodiversity. Though it's only 1 per cent of the world's waters it's home to nearly 10 per cent of the world's marine species. Photo: Getty Images

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Earth’s ocean is warming at the same rate as five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water each second, according to scientists, causing the ocean to run out of oxygen, and endangering the future of millions of marine species.

Last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered a grim projection for the future of the world’s ocean, revealing how glaciers and ice sheets are melting at an unprecedented rate, threatening frequent storms and regular flooding in countries around the world. What is driving these changes in the world’s ocean?

The biggest driver of changes in the ocean at the moment is the climate emergency.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Las últimas y alarmantes noticias sobre el cambio climático informan que grandes zonas de tierras densamente habitadas estarán inundadas para 2050, y sus ciudades “quedarán borradas del mapa”. Estos reportes –que aparecieron en The New York Times y muchos otros medios noticiosos- se basan en un buen artículo de investigación realizado por científicos de Climate Central, pero malinterpretan la información.

Es parte de un patrón dañino. El cambio climático es un problema creado por el hombre que debemos enfrentar, pero muchas de las noticias sobre sus supuestos efectos nos atemorizan sin justificación y nos confunden sobre las acciones que debemos tomar.…  Seguir leyendo »

The seas are the lifeblood of our planet. (Shutterstock/WorldPost Illustration)

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The seas are the lifeblood of our blue planet. They are the critical element in forging that narrow band of livable climate that distinguishes us, so far as we know, in the universe. It is thus not an overstatement to say that the fate of the oceans is our own fate as well. From sea to shining sea globally, the warning lights are flashing.

The challenge is daunting because the planetary economy, as Jacques Cousteau argued in an interview back in 1996, does not price in the real value of the Earth’s natural assets. “We are selling off the future in the name of immediate gain,” he told me when we met at the Cousteau Society offices in Paris, where a scale model of the Calypso, Cousteau’s famous research vessel that roamed the seven seas, was on display.…  Seguir leyendo »

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La surpêche et le changement climatique menacent une source de nourriture d’importance vitale pour plus d’un milliard de personnes. Ils sont les principaux facteurs de détérioration du plus grand écosystème du monde : l’océan. Celui-ci offre pourtant une source d’oxygène et de régulation du climat à l’ensemble de notre planète, sans compter les emplois et les revenus qu’il génère pour des centaines de millions de personnes.

Si nous ne prenons pas des mesures urgentes pour restaurer et protéger nos océans, nous devrons bientôt faire face à une catastrophe sans précédent pour l’humanité. Nous pouvons corriger ces problèmes. L’océan est parfaitement capable de se reconstituer, et il existe des méthodes éprouvées pour que nous l’y aidions.…  Seguir leyendo »

Un barco carguero en la laguna Cochin en Kerala, India, el año pasado Credit Frédéric Soltan/Corbis, vía Getty Images

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El transporte marítimo internacional es la columna vertebral de nuestro sistema mundial de comercio. Sin embargo, quienes participan en ese negocio no pueden seguir sin hacer nada para combatir el cambio climático. Si ese sector industrial fuera un país, sería el sexto emisor de gases de efecto invernadero en el mundo y si no se toman medidas para reducir esas emisiones, para el año 2050 podría sobrepasar el total previsto de las emisiones de Europa.

La Organización Marítima Internacional, el ente de las Naciones Unidas que establece los estándares regulatorios para el transporte de carga internacional, celebra una reunión en Londres esta semana para analizar varias estrategias que buscan reducir estas emisiones.…  Seguir leyendo »

A container ship in the Cochin lagoon in Kerala, India last year. Credit Frédéric Soltan/Corbis, via Getty Images

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International shipping is the backbone of our global trading system. But it can no longer be given a free pass on climate change. If this industrial sector were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world — and if it doesn’t act now to reduce those emissions, by 2050 they could surpass total anticipated European emissions.

The International Maritime Organization, which sets regulatory standards for international shipping, is set to meet in London next week to consider approaches to reducing these emissions. So far, progress by the I.M.O. has been agonizingly slow, and the group’s timetable — to develop an “initial strategy” next week and a plan by 2023 — is similarly dilatory.…  Seguir leyendo »

Estructuras fueron recientemente agregadas a lo largo de la costa de la isla en un intento por frenar la invasión del océano. Credit Thomas Nybo/Redux, para Unicef

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Cualquiera que tenga dudas sobre el cambio climático debería venir a esta adorable isla baja, bañada por suaves olas y hogar de cerca de 100.000 personas.

Pero ha de venir pronto si aún quiere encontrarla aquí.

“Mi casa estaba ahí”, dijo Zainal Abedin, un agricultor, señalando las olas a aproximadamente 30 metros de la orilla. “Cuando la marea está baja, todavía podemos ver señales de nuestra casa”.

Gran parte de Kutubdia ya ha sido tragada por el creciente nivel del mar, dejando a incontables familias sin nada. Nurul Haque, un campesino que perdió todas sus tierras, pues quedaron cubiertas por el mar, me dijo que quizá tendrá que sacar a su hija, Munni Akter, de 13 años, de la escuela y casarla con un hombre mayor que busque una segunda o tercera esposa, pues a él le quedan pocas opciones económicas para mantenerla.…  Seguir leyendo »

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That kid — there’s one in every school — putting up posters about protecting baby seals and organizing beach cleanups? Yeah, that was me.

Years later, I’d finally achieved my childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist — just in time to witness the collapse of the world’s ocean ecosystems. I thought I’d be saving reefs. It turns out that’s a difficult thing to do. It felt like training to be a physician and then being unexpectedly assigned to hospice.

Reefs are of enormous economic value to us. They protect coastal cities from storms and support fisheries. A recent study found that revenue from reef tourism alone is $36 billion per year globally.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russia Is Vital to Protecting Antarctica’s Ross Sea

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The key to protecting Antarctica’s Ross Sea may well lie with Russia. On Monday the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, comprising 24 nations and the European Union, will discuss, once again, the creation of a large, marine protected area in the Southern Ocean. All but one of the commission members has supported safeguarding this vital region and its threatened inhabitants. The holdout has been Russia, which has blocked similar efforts in recent years.

But there are reasons to hope that this year may be different.

The commission was created in 1982 to avert the overfishing and deterioration that is happening throughout the world’s oceans.…  Seguir leyendo »