World Oceans Day is coming up... And they need our help! Here's why, and what to do about it!

Today it is all about World Oceans Day (8th June).

They are the life blood of our planet, but they are under incredibly serious threat.

For this episode I’m going to be blunt and maybe a little bit depressing, at least to start with.

Our oceans face multiple threats and there is already catastrophic damage being done to them. Don’t worry, in this episode I’ll also offer some hope and some options on how to help, but to start I’m really going to reveal how dire things are.

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Transcript:

Intro: Kia ora kaitiaki and welcome to Now That's What I Call Green. I'm your host, Brianne West, an environmentalist and entrepreneur trying to get you as excited about our planet as I am. I'm all about creating a scientific approach to making the world a better place without the judgment and making it fun. And of course, we will be chatting about some of the most amazing creatures we share our planet with. So if you are looking to navigate through everything green or not so green, you have come to the right place.

Brianne: Kia ora kaitiaki, welcome back. Today it is all about World Oceans Day. Our oceans are the lifeblood of our planet. They regulate the climate, they provide us food, and they support of course the incredible biodiversity. But they are under pretty serious threats. That is no surprise to any of you listening. It's up to us to take action. But I am going to start with a horrible statistic, and I promise I'll cheer you up from there eventually, but we are going to miss keeping climate change to 1.5 degrees of warming. That ship has sailed, according to people much smarter than me. Yeah, I mean that is horrible in itself because we know what that entails, but it is immediately grief-inducing when you know that it spells the end of coral reefs. Less than 10% of reefs are expected to survive that bump in temperature.

And for those who say, oh well they'll just start rebuilding in cooler waters, well maybe, but that will take hundreds of thousands of years. Coral is a slow grower. Beyond the fact that this is genuinely devastating, why do we care about coral reefs? Well, they're pretty fricking important actually. Despite being less than 1% of the ocean, they support 25% of all sea life. And when the water temperature gets too hot, they bleach. You've probably seen photos of this. This is where they look white and skeletal and it just looks odd, like it's been snowed on. They can recover from bleaching, but if it lasts too long, or if it happens too many times in a short space of time, then the corals will die.

But what is a coral? It looks like a rock, right? It almost looks like a hard tree branch thing. Well, a coral is not a plant, it's a colony of animals. Yeah, animals, they're called polyps. The hard bit that I'm talking about is the silica skeleton they build. That's what makes up a lot of beach sand, actually, as it erodes away. Now, corals have a symbiotic, that means mutually beneficial, relationship with algae. Now, this algae lives inside their tissues and provides food through photosynthesis. And when corals are stressed due to things like temperature change, the algae is expelled and the color goes away because it's the algae that gives it that colour. So the coral appears white. Now without that algae, the coral loses most of its food source.

Quite a big deal. As the coral becomes less stressed, the algae moves back in and that's how bleached coral can recover. But as I mentioned, if this happens too often, they can't. And now, for the very first time ever, all three sections of the Great Barrier Reef, north, south and middle, have been affected by a mass bleaching event. Usually the south gets away with it because it's a little bit cooler down there. This is the fifth mass bleaching event and the largest by country mile. We are currently experiencing the fourth global mass bleaching event. So that's every major reef structure has experienced some bleaching this year and some will die. I know I said I was going to cheer you up but I haven't done yet because this is going to continue to get worse. But coral reefs aren't the only issue. You've probably heard of ocean acidification. So more CO2 in the air means the ocean absorbs more of it. The ocean absorbs about 30% of the CO2 that we emit, which is wonderfully helpful for us but problematic for the ocean because once it hits the water, it forms something called carbonic acid. This acid dissociates into bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions, and that increases the ocean's acidity. This higher concentration of hydrogen ions reduces the availability of carbonate ions, which are necessary for calcium carbonate formation, and that is what shells are made of. Shell-forming organisms struggle to extract that necessary carbonate ions from the water, leading to weaker or improperly formed shells and skeletons. This disrupts the food web as you'd imagine because as many marine organisms such as plankton and mollusks and some species of algae, they all rely on calcium carbonate to form their shells and skeletons. These organisms are foundational components of the marine food web. So losing these, or losing even a fraction of these, will cause a massive ripple effect, impacting species that feed on them like fish, whales and seabirds. Their decline will also lead to reduced habitat complexity, making environments less hospitable for other marine species, which will result in a loss of biodiversity which will weaken ecosystem resilience even further. Coral reefs, as I've mentioned, are also vulnerable to this because they build their skeletons out of calcium carbonate. The silica comes later as the calcium carbonate is dissolved away. So corals will also struggle to produce these skeletons, reef growth will slow or stop, and the structural integrity of these vital ecosystems is just gone. Our oceans are drowning in plastic.

That's not a surprise to anybody. Every year millions of tonnes of plastic waste end up in the ocean. You know that it harms marine life. You know that there is microplastics found in every environment on earth. You've probably heard the stat, one dump truck every minute hits our ocean. Well, that's actually accelerating because plastic manufacturer is stepping it up too.

30% more plastic is expected to be made by 2030. Animals like sea turtles, birds and fish will eat the plastic or they get entangled in it, and often leading to injury and death. And they cannot do studies on how microplastics are affecting humans because they cannot find a control population, which means they cannot find any human that has not been affected by microplastics.

They are quite literally everywhere on Earth now. And we don't know what they're doing. We're taking fish out of the ocean faster than they can reproduce. We're overfishing. This threatens the balance of marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of those millions of people who depend on fishing for their income. Some fish populations have declined by 90% due to overfishing. And if current trends continue, we will see a collapse of key fisheries. We've already seen a few.

Have you heard of dead zones? These are where nutrient pollution from agriculture and wastewater is rushing off into the ocean. Because you get an excess of nutrients in the water, the algae population explodes. They then die, they sink, and the decomposition process through bacteria uses a lot of oxygen in the water, effectively creating a deoxygenated or a dead zone. The largest dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico are caused by nutrient runoff from the Mississippi River.

But there are many. These zones cannot support most marine life. Also, in addition to all of this, warmer water holds less oxygen, so this will become more and more of a problem over time as climate change continues. And there is another super fun twist here. Animals that live in warmer waters typically need more oxygen. level rise due to melting ice caps and glaciers, and something called the thermal expansion of seawater. Warm stuff takes up more room.

So these rising sea levels are going to threaten coastal communities with increased flooding, erosion, and storm surges. Kiribati is among one of the many islands that's already losing land, and is expected to lose their entire homeland within the next couple of decades. But big cities like New York, Jakarta, Miami, in fact most parts of Florida, and yes, Auckland, they are all going to feel the effects sooner rather than later. Climate change is not something that is going to happen, it is happening now.

Because islands and low-lying coastal areas are obviously so vulnerable, they're expecting a potential displacement of 400 million people by the end of the century. Just remember, there's only 5 million that lives in Aotearoa. And that is not factoring in the displacement caused by other issues like heat or increased storms. That's just sea level rise.

There are other issues too. There's loss of biodiversity, there's invasive species. But I really think this amount of negativity will do it for now because World Oceans Day should be a celebration, right? There just really isn't that much to celebrate. And this so far has not been my usual optimistic uplifting episode, is it? But that's frankly because we're doing a bloody poor job of looking after our oceans.

Don't forget how much it does for us. It is the sole protein source for about 2 billion people. It buffers climate change by not only absorbing that CO2 but also massive amounts of heat. It provides 50% of the oxygen you breathe. It is key to the global economy in a multitude of ways and at the end of the day, if it fails, we do too. End of story. As the wonderful Dr. Sylvia Earle says, no blue, no green. So why can we not do the bare minimum and protect 30% of it? It absolutely boggles the mind when all of the science shows that protecting 30% of our oceans would protect 100% of it without impacting industry or economies negatively. In fact, it would do the opposite because that 30% protected will help rehabilitate the ocean. You've possibly heard me talk about 30 by 30 before. It's the global campaign launched by Costa Rica, France and the UK to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. It currently sits at 7% or really 3% if you're looking at proper robust protections. And we're in 2024.

We have less than six years to go. A hundred countries have pledged to do this. Europe as a whole has pledged to get there by 2030. Costa Rica has already done it. Aotearoa, we're doing the worst job. We have protected less than 0.5% of our oceans. We have the fifth largest ocean territory and we are not holding up our end of the bargain. It's embarrassing and it's a disgrace. But we've come to the positive part. When I was reading the horrifically depressing book Uninhabitable Earth, which I recommend, but you know, brace yourself, something that keeps coming through is the idea that this isn't happening to us, right? This isn't something out of our control. This is something we're doing. We are choosing to do what we are doing every single day and thus we can stop it.

We have the power here. You may feel powerless, but it is the very opposite. I promise you, you are not. So here are some of the things you can do to help look after our oceans, which will go an enormously long way to protecting ourselves from further climate change.

Number one is vote, obviously. Research and vote for leaders and policies that prioritise environmental protection and climate action that is backed by science. One of my most popular episodes on here has been exactly that, was a breakdown of the party's promises on our election last year. It's pretty clear to see that our current government is just not that interested in environmental protection. But for those of you around the world, please vote. I appreciate some countries don't have great choices. Please try and vote for the one that's at least better than the other. Look for candidates who advocate for clean energy policies, marine protected areas, stringent regulations on plastic pollution, who don't get into bed with plastic and oil companies. At the end of the day, no matter what you do, make sure you vote.

Number two is to advocate for policy change. A lot of us actually don't know that we can do this, but we can, this is within our power. This is the joys of democracy, right? You can join or support advocacy groups pushing for stronger environmental policies. You can work with organisations like Greenpeace or Oceana or WWF. They are all working to influence policy using science. Sign petitions, write to your representatives, use social media to amplify these causes. You can advocate for policy change more than you think you can.

Number three is to support marine conservation. Now if you can't donate, I totally get it at this point in time, totally fine. If you can, there are lots of organisations out there like Mission Blue, Sustainable Coastlines, Oceana, Sea Shepherd, Project Jonah, RC's Our Future, Surf Rider, I could go on. But if you can't donate, why not see if you can join a chapter and volunteer, organise beach cleanups, help reach out, connect them to your network. There is a multitude of different ways you can help marine conservation.

Number four is to reduce your carbon footprint. Yeah, real complex, I get ya. And business and governments have the responsibility to lead here without question. But you can do stuff too. You can lower your energy consumption if you are in the position to. You can put solar panels on your roof. You can get an electric car. You know all the things you can do. But the number one thing you can do? Stop wasting food. Lessening your food waste is the single most impactful thing you can do to lower your carbon emissions. Also, save your money.

Number five, reduce your plastic use. Single-use plastics are horrendous. They are in no way sustainable. I talk a lot about how other options are not any better, but it doesn't matter. Single use anything sucks. Stop using it. We know this one already.

Number six is sustainable seafood. Choose seafood that has been sustainably sourced or, and I'm going to be maybe a little bit controversial here, but if you don't need it, skip it. You may like it, but our oceans cannot cope with people liking fish. Overfishing is a real threat. Quotas are not necessarily scientifically backed and not being stuck to. We're destroying oceanic habitats in other ways, which is not necessarily being factored into these quotas. If you can, skip fish. There are some good sustainable apps out there if you really want to eat fish, like the Marine Stewardship Council, MSC, look for that label when you're shopping for seafood, or use the Seafood Watch app.

Next, support eco-friendly businesses. There are lots of businesses out there that are doing the right thing, finally. Support them. Show them that you appreciate what it is they're doing. No company is perfect, but a lot of companies out there are doing a lot better. Companies like Patagonia or Lush or Incredibles, just quietly, support companies doing better, giving back or providing options for wasteful plastics.

And then finally, educate people. Educate, advocate, right? So raise awareness for ocean conservation. Spread the message that's in this podcast. Spread this podcast should you feel the urge. Host or attend educational events on marine conservation. Talk about it on social media. Talk about it with your friends. Be that irritating person. Actually, don't because irritating people have never convinced anybody. But talk about it in a way that's non-confronting but does just tell how important this is. Because again, no blue, no green, and the ocean needs our help.

And to the person on TikTok the other day who told me I'm gonna look really stupid when I'm wrong about all of this and that the environment's fine and that climate change is a hoax, I would be delighted. That would be amazing. What a bizarre attitude that is. I actually don't care about being wrong. But even if none of this was as bad as scientists across the globe are telling us, what is wrong with trying to make the world and our environment a better, healthier place? Bizarre, bizarre thinking.

Anyway, kia ora kaitiaki, see you next time for a chat about electric cars, batteries and genocide. Yeah, it is less heavy than it sounds, but it is interesting information I think everybody should know. Kia ora, see you next time.

Outro: And there you go. I hope you learned something and realised that being green isn't about everything in your pantry matching with those silly glass jars or living in a commune. If that's your jam, fabulous. But sustainability at its part is just using what you need. If you enjoyed this episode, please don't keep it to yourself and feel free to drop me a rating and hit the subscribe button. If you enjoyed this episode, please don't keep it to yourself and feel free to drop me a rating and hit the subscribe button. Kia ora and I'll see you next week.

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