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| Topic | Ominous warning from UN: World's oceans in peril |
| YoshitoKikuchi 09/25/19 9:00:15 AM #1: | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/09/25/un-climate-report-worlds-oceans-and-mountains-big-trouble/2427654001/ The world's oceans and mountains are in peril, and so are we, according to a major new report from United Nations climate scientists released early Wednesday. The "Special Report on Oceans and the Cryosphere" offers a bleak picture. It warns that the world's oceans have reached or are nearing critical tipping points: Oceans have gotten warmer, more acidic and are losing oxygen, resulting in a cascade of negative effects that are wreaking havoc on coral and other marine ecosystems, threatening the collapse of the worlds fisheries and turbocharging deadly hurricanes and tropical storms. In an unprecedented effort, teams of scientists from the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change explored the farthest corners of Earth, from the highest Alpine regions to the deepest oceans, said Ko Barrett, panel vice chair and a NOAA deputy assistant administrator for research, "and even in these remote places climate change is evident." As glaciers and ice sheets have melted faster, and rising temperatures have warmed the surface of the sea, the planet's marine zones have absorbed the heat, Barrett said. But the systems are now at or near overload. "For decades, the ocean has been acting like a sponge ... but it can't keep up," Barrett said. "The consequences for nature and humanity are sweeping and severe." The scientists confirmed clear links between ice loss and rising seas and an array of impacts, including fiercer hurricanes and storms in the Atlantic Ocean. In the U.S., most of the East and West coasts will experience what were once "hundred-year" floods on an annual basis, even if greenhouse gas emissions are sharply reduced, and unless major investments are made to adapt to the coming high waters, the report says. Globally, preparing for the floods as seas rise could cost hundreds of billions of dollars per year. In the absence of major adaptation efforts, extreme coastal flooding will become common by the end of the century due to sea-level rise, according to the report. But the consequences of continuing on a high emissions trajectory are even starker, the authors conclude: Under a low-emissions scenario, managing the impacts of climate change will be expensive but possible. Doing little or nothing will result in catastrophic impacts. This report should erase any doubts about the peril that climate change poses for the health of the ocean and, as a consequence, for human well-being," said John Tanzer of the World Wildlife Fund's global oceans program. "From coral reefs and mangroves to fish populations and coastal habitats, climate change and human pressures are rapidly destroying the natural capital that supports the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world." --- Dont be ridiculous. I think FIVE evil steps ahead https://imgur.com/YQpeyD3 ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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