a healthy ocean for all
Climate, biodiversity, and
the Ocean
The U.S. controls a vast underwater world roughly 1.5 times larger than the nation’s land area, which supports the daily lives of all Americans. From estuaries to deep canyons and seamounts, the ocean and our coastal ecosystems are critical to our survival.
The ocean drives weather and climate patterns, provides half the oxygen we breathe, and is a source of food, spiritual and cultural nourishment, recreation, renewable energy, and promising scientific discovery. The ocean contributes hundreds of billions of dollars in goods and services to the country’s gross domestic product and employs millions of people.
our ocean is in crisis.
The ocean struggles from decades of overexploitation, plastic pollution and habitat destruction.
Now climate change is fundamentally altering ocean ecosystems and creating a ‘triple threat’:
1. The ocean is absorbing over 90% of the excess heat produced by rising greenhouse gasses and has done so unabated since 1970.
2. The ocean has absorbed nearly a third of the carbon dioxide from greenhouse gas emissions since the 1980’s, which has led to and exacerbated the acidification of our ocean.
3. The warmer the ocean is, the less oxygen it can hold. The decline in oxygen can cause changes in biodiversity, productivity, and nutrient cycling.
These changes limit nature’s ability to buffer increasing climate impacts — impacts felt by communities in the form of disasters like storms, fires, and floods. We know nature is important and needs protection to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Global Sixth Assessment released in Spring 2022, underscores the importance of transformative change.
The ocean can help. It is a powerful source of solutions that have the potential to provide a fifth of the greenhouse gas emission reductions needed globally to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C. However, even if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees celsius, the ocean will continue to see impacts of this warming until at least 2300.
Which means there is literally no time left to waste.
Congress, the Administration, states, and municipalities must treat the ocean as a climate champion and step up to meet climate goals.
Congress and the Administration must implement leverage the power of the ocean in the fight against climate change. We need to protect vulnerable ocean ecosystems and adapt coastal communities to the impacts of climate change that are already locked in while prioritizing economic, racial, climate, and environmental justice.
Ocean climate action involves three areas of action:
The Healthy Ocean Coalition is focused on defending the ocean and communities. We will work to:
Champion strong ocean and climate protections, working toward ocean climate action at multiple levels of government.
Fight plans to harm our communities, health, economy and environment to line the pockets of billionaires and corporations.
Protect, nurture, and grow our network of ocean and climate advocates.