Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity. The earth’s rising temperature is closely interconnected with the health of our oceans.
This set of Drivers of Change cards looks at some of the key issues, their consequences and solutions we might consider to avoid catastrophe.
Covering over 70% of the earth’s surface, oceans absorb 80% of the sun’s energy and are the world’s largest carbon sink. As a result, our oceans are warming dramatically, ocean acidity has increased by almost 30% since the mid-1750s, and sea level rise remains unchecked. This has resulted in damage to coral reefs, plankton and crustaceans, warmer sea surface temperatures reduce the upwelling of nutrients from deep oceans and disrupt ocean currents and weather, and the thermal expansion of oceans and the accelerated melting of ice caps cause inexorable sea level rise.