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OCEANA CLIMATE CAMPAIGN
Offshore drilling provides no real relief from high gasoline prices or energy dependence, but oil drilling poses major long-term risks to sensitive ocean ecosystems and expanding oil production will worsen the impacts of climate change. Oceana has continued to maintain that offshore drilling is not the answer. We need to shift to a low carbon energy economy through conservation, energy efficiency, and expanded use of alternative energy sources. Our oceans and the millions of species that depend on them are in the balance. Oceana's newest report, Toxic Legacy, focuses on the impacts to the marine environment that our addiction to oil causes. Download the report and other materials about offshore oil drilling here.
Acid Test: Can We Save Our Oceans from CO2?
This Oceana report documents increasing carbon dioxide levels in the oceans as a result of carbon dioxide releases to the atmosphere. The result is an increase in the acidity levels of ocean waters. The process, which is known as ocean acidification, reduces the ability of marine animals like corals, crabs, lobsters, clams and oysters to create calcium carbonate skeletons and shells. This will likely reduce their survival rates and their ability to mature and reproduce. Such a decline and widespread death of coral reefs will cost society billions of dollars annually in lost fishing and tourism revenue and will jeopardize the coastal protection services that coral reefs otherwise provide. Find out more about the report here.
Conservation Coalition and States Will Sue EPA to Reduce Global Warming Pollution from Ships and Planes
A coalition of conservation groups and state attorneys general filed formal letters warning of impending lawsuits over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's failure to address global warming pollution from ocean-going ships and aircraft. The conservation groups' notice of intent to sue was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Oceana, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Read Oceana's Press Release
Read the Letter of Intent to Sue the Environmental Protection Agency
Read Oceana's Report Shipping Impacts on Climate: A source with solutions
To find out more about how shipping contributes to climate change, click here.
No More Free Ride for Shipping
Oceana has petitioned the EPA to regulate global warming pollution from the shipping industry. The global shipping fleet is a major emitter of carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants, pumping as much carbon dioxide into the air as all the cars used in the United States put together. In fact, ships emit more carbon dioxide worldwide than most individual countries emit from all sources - only six countries crank out more CO2 than the global shipping fleet. Yet these ship emissions are entirely unregulated. Oceana and its partners, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity have told EPA to stop giving shippers a free ride - our oceans are suffering from climate change and regulating shipping is one way to control it.
Click the following links for more information on shipping and climate change or to read the Petition or Oceana's Press Release.
No More Free Flying for Aircraft
Recently Oceana petitioned the EPA to regulate global warming pollution from ships. Now Oceana has petitioned the EPA to regulate airlines as well. The United States is responsible for nearly half of the worldwide carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft. Aviation represents one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the significant contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, there is mounting evidence that aircraft emissions have a significantly greater impact on global warming due to their release at high altitudes than emissions that are produced on land. The significant contribution of aviation to global warming and the lack of regulation to prevent this serious form of pollution have prompted Oceana and its partners, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity to petition the EPA to stop allowing aircraft to fly and pollute for free.Click the following links for more information on aircraft and climate change or to read the Petition or Oceana's Press Release .
To find out more about what Oceana is doing to fight climate change, click here.
| What is global warming? | What is global warming doing to the oceans? | Who are the victims of global warming? | What are the solutions to global warming? |
OCEAN FERTILIZATION PROVES TO BE INEFFECTIVE
After a 45-day experiment, scientists working on the controversial ocean iron fertilization program, LOHAFEX, have reported the experiment to be an ineffective solution to climate change. The theory behind ocean fertilization is that the dumping of large amounts of iron in the ocean will spur phytoplankton blooms, which will draw in carbon dioxide as they grow. It has been suggested that as these blooms die and fall to the ocean depths they will carry with them this carbon and sequester it away from the atmosphere, thereby reducing the driver of climate change. The LOHAFEX scientists found that following the dumping of iron into the ocean, a phytoplankton bloom did take place, but was also followed by an increase in the population of zooplankton which ate most of the new phytoplankton, thereby preventing it from falling to the ocean floor. Iron fertilization is also likely to disrupt marine ecosystems and even exacerbate ocean acidification; as a result this ineffective method of sequestering carbon dioxide should be taken off the table as a strategy for mitigating climate change.
To learn more about the LOHAFEX experiment visit the projects website at the National Institute of Oceanography. To learn more about the conclusion of the experiment, read an article in Greenwire (subscription required).