by
William Gralnick
At this writing, the Republican nominee for President was nearly assassinated, and the Democrat party is in such disarray one commentator said, “It couldn’t find sand if it fell off a camel.” Our democracy looks like an old sweater so pulled and pilled it is almost useless but still maintains its basic shape. Yet I remain determined in my efforts to advise you all that unless the climate problem is attacked none of the above will matter. Today’s topic is the ocean.
I am alone this week. My bride is doing a good deed out of town, helping a friend who just lost her husband. I am mostly staying inside thanking the gods of air conditioning because the temperature in South Florida is in the 90’s with the “feels like” temperature at 103. The evening temperature never got below 85 degrees last night. The air is too heavy to muster up a breeze.
“I thought this was about the ocean?” you ask. Well, in years gone by it rarely has gotten this hot down here. Why? The ocean. All through the summer until usually late September when the winds shift the ocean keeps temperatures tolerable, tolerable if you will accept the fact that this is the sub-tropics. The problem is we are losing the sub and becoming the tropics and doing it faster than many plants and animals can adjust to the change. Recall my dead dove in the last article as an example.
Here’s a riff for you. The world is overheating. Global waters are warming. Glaciers are melting. Oceans are rising. Islands are sinking. Islanders are fleeing. The water is coming for us.
That has particular meaning for South Florida because warmer waters mean more and stronger hurricanes. The Ocean is one of the prizes of living here. First, it is a major help to those of us who are direction-challenged. It is always in the same place, on the east over here, the west over on the other coast. It is beautiful to look at. Its waves have a calming effect on us. It harbors the fish we eat and catch. I could go on—for a long time. But if we were still idol worshippers we’d be saying that Poseidon or Neptune Greek and Roman gods of the ocean are mightily ticked off at us. And it is easy to understand why. Read on.
Every year, 11 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean. That’s on top of the estimated 200 million metric tons that currently circulate through our marine environment.
1,800 species have been found to have plastic in them.
Plastic pollution affects iconic ocean creatures and humans. Industrial facilities that make plastics have been harming the communities around them for decades. These communities face sky-high rates of cancer and respiratory diseases from toxic air and water pollution. They are also on the front lines of climate change, facing stronger hurricanes and rising seas. We must act now to protect our ocean and the communities most at risk. These tidbits are from a wonderful organization called The Ocean Conservancy that I happen to support.
Then there is the result of research by Surfers Against Sewage, a British conservation group that I had never heard of until I researched this piece.
8 million pieces of plastic pollution make their way into the ocean every day. (OSPAR, 2009)
12 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the ocean every year (Eunomia, 2016)
80% of all studied marine debris is plastic. (IUCN, 2020)
5.25 trillion macro and microplastics may now be floating in the open ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes. (Eriksen, 2014)
100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution every year. (UK Government, 2018) (Surfers Against Sewage)
The Ocean Blue Project tells us this. Unlike other materials, plastic does not biodegrade. It can take up to 1,000 years to break down, so when it is discarded, it builds up in the environment until it reaches a crisis point. This pollution chokes marine wildlife, damages soil and poisons groundwater, and can cause serious health impacts.
I could go on. I fear that to make any change, I think I must keep smacking your readers with facts.
Last night I treated myself to a movie. I tape things my wife won’t watch and save them for when I’m alone. This one was an awful Tom Cruise iteration of Mission Impossible a long-ago favorite of mine on television. The plot was intriguing, in part because I suspect that the writer, or writers, had the shape of the world on their minds and I don’t mean that it’s round. Simply put, the movie is about a mad scientist who fears that we humans are killing our planet. A brilliant scientist, his research showed that Earth has wiped itself out several times, leaving only micro-organisms. These eventually regenerated and regrow took place. Mankind has disappeared for various causes but made it back on the stage.
The scientist decides that our salvation lies in self-destruction. He hatches a plot to start a thermo-nuclear war to wipe us out, so we can start again. Of course, Tommy saves the day.
I leave you with this question. Should he have?
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There is a lighter side to Bill than his “the sky is falling” articles. They can be found in his memoir trilogy at http://wwwwilliamgralnickauthor.com or on Amazon. The books are The War of the Itchy Balls and Other Tales From Brooklyn, endorsed by Brian Williams and Lynn Sher, George Washington Didn’t Sleep Here endorsed by president Dr. Stephen Trachtenberg President Emeritus of The George Washington University, and That Why They Call It Work, endorsed by Stephen Bayme, Ph.D.
As Bill says, “Read! It’s good for both of us.”
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