Oceans

Human Rights Abuses In $40 Billion Tuna Industry Still A Major Problem

September 1, 2024 Greenpeace USA. Educate! Fishing, Human Rights, Oceans, Sustainability, Tuna, Worker Rights

Fourteen out of 16 major US grocery retailers received failing grades in Greenpeace USA’s latest scorecard on tuna supply chain practices, highlighting ongoing issues in human rights and sustainability on the high seas. The new report, The High Cost of Cheap Tuna 2024, 3rd Edition, finds that while some retailers have made improvements in sourcing tuna, U.S. retailers’ current human rights and sustainability practices are failing. Of the 16 retailers, only Aldi and HyVee passed the scorecard and Trader Joe’s finished last, with a 12% score. Trader Joe’s score reflects the retailer’s failure to respond or complete a survey and its website providing almost zero transparency on its sustainability and human rights practices.

Judge Orders Increased Protection Of Marine Species From Oil Drilling

August 22, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Resist! Biodiversity, Drilling, Legal System, Oceans, Oil and Gas

At the urging of Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and other green groups, a United States federal judge has thrown out a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) assessment governing how threatened and endangered marine species like whales and sea turtles ought to be protected from oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The Maryland district court struck down the assessment — known under the Endangered Species Act as a “biological opinion” — which was required to ensure that endangered and threatened species would not be jeopardized by exploration and drilling for fossil fuels in the Gulf, a press release from Sierra Club said.

Dark Oxygen: Deep-Sea Discovery Challenges Scientific Assumptions

August 5, 2024 Felicity Bradstock, Naked Capitalism. Educate! Dark Oxygen, Environment, Oceans, Science and technology

The discovery of “dark oxygen”, oxygen produced deep under the surface of the sea, is shining a light on the potential risks of deep-sea mining for metals and minerals. There has already been great controversy over plans to approve deep-sea mining activities at the international level, to meet the growing demand for critical minerals, and the recent discovery demonstrates just how little we know about marine ecosystems. An international team of researchers recently discovered that oxygen is being made by potato-shaped metallic nodules deep under the surface of the Pacific Ocean. In July, their findings, which throw into dispute the concepts of oxygen production, were published in the Nature Geoscience journal.

World’s Oceans Face ‘Triple Threat’, Study Finds

June 6, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Biodiversity, climate crisis, Environment, Ocean Acidification, Oceans

A new study has found that the planet’s oceans are experiencing a “triple threat” of oxygen loss, extreme heat and acidification. The researchers discovered that, as global heating has worsened, increasing stress has been placed on marine species, with as much as 20 percent of the world’s oceans affected by these threats. “The global ocean is becoming warmer, more acidic, and losing oxygen due to climate change. On top of this trend, sudden increases in temperature, or drops in pH or oxygen adversely affect marine organisms when they cannot quickly adapt to these extreme conditions,” the study said.

Greenpeace Calls For Bold High Seas Ocean Protection Of Galapagos

March 12, 2024 The Canary. Resist! Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Galápagos Islands, Greenpeace, Oceans

On Monday 12 March, Greenpeace called for new marine protections for the ocean surrounding the Galapagos – a vital biodiversity hotspot. Specifically, the environmental campaign group pushed for governments to create a high seas marine protected zone under a new UN treaty to secure a much wider area around Ecuador’s archipelago. The islands sit some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the mainland of Ecuador, and have flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. The islands unique diversity of life famously inspired British scientist Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Sudden Heat Increase In North Atlantic Seas Could Have Devastating Effects

June 21, 2023 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Biodiversity, climate crisis, Extreme weather, Global Warming, Oceans

Scientists have warned that an extreme marine heat wave off the UK and Ireland coasts is posing a major threat to marine species. According to the official blog of the UK’s Met Office, the global sea surface temperatures for April and May of this year were the highest since records began in 1850. Last month was the warmest May on record in the North Atlantic, with temperatures about 1.25 degrees Celsius higher than average over the 1961 to 1990 reference period. “The extreme and unprecedented temperatures show the power of the combination of human-induced warming and natural climate variability like El Niño,” said Daniela Schmidt, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Bristol.

Is Kelp The Next Ocean Hero?

June 11, 2023 Tara Lohan, Resilience. Educate! Biodiversity, Kelp, Oceans, Sustainability

New research shows we’ve long underestimated the environmental benefits from kelp forests. Now these important ecosystems are threatened. Floridians are bracing for an unwanted visitor this summer: sargassum. A 5,000-mile-long island of this rootless seaweed is floating around the Atlantic, and large swathes of it are expected to wash ashore in Florida and other states in the coming months. Smaller amounts have already arrived, and the rotting clumps of algae on the beach release hydrogen sulfide, giving off the smell of rotten eggs. A large landfall will be a health hazard — and a deterrent for tourists and nesting sea turtles alike.

Nations Agree On Historic Global Oceans Treaty

March 6, 2023 Greenpeace.org Create! climate crisis, Environment, Global Oceans Treaty, Oceans

The Global Oceans Treaty agreed on today is the biggest conservation agreement in the history of the world. It provides a pathway to establish marine sanctuaries so that countries can turn their commitment to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 into a reality. This is the minimum scientists have said we need to prevent ecosystem collapse in the oceans – our greatest shared resource and the foundation of life on this planet. This is a huge victory for the billions of people who depend on healthy oceans and for the animals that call the oceans home. It is a win against climate change and biodiversity loss. Everyone on Earth should breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Pandora’s Box: Emerging Threats To Climate Stability

January 3, 2023 Ben Shread-Hewitt, Resilience. Educate! climate crisis, Environment, Oceans, Tipping point

Climate change is multifaceted. It has long been certain that CO2 emissions are altering the atmosphere, causing heating and disequilibrium — but it is also clear that CO2 is far from the only culprit, or that the Greenhouse effect is the only negative feedback cycle driving the temperature up. Methane emissions, Ice albedo decline, and ocean acidification are all components of Climate breakdown. Widely acknowledged, but also less understood. However, the story of climate breakdown continues to evolve. The more scientists study its effects and causes, the more ways they find human activity is forcing disequilibrium. Likewise, the more ways in which they find nature is now producing feedback mechanisms outside of our control. This article is a part of a series of summaries of some of these newer findings, and brief explanations of their mechanisms.

‘Time Has Run Out’ — UN Fails To Reach Agreement To Protect Marine Life

August 30, 2022 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! Biodiversity, Environment, Oceans, United Nations

The fifth round of United Nations talks that began in New York on August 15 and were aimed at securing a UN Ocean Treaty to protect marine life in the international waters of the High Seas has ended in another stalemate, reported The Guardian. The treaty would have established regulations for the protection of biodiversity in two-thirds of the world’s non-territorial waters. “We’re disappointed that governments at the UN did not bring the High Seas Treaty over the finish line this week. However, it has been uplifting to witness the global momentum for ocean action steadily build throughout these negotiations. Communities across the world are asking for decisive ocean action to protect marine life and safeguard the vital role the ocean plays for the climate, global food security and the overall health of our planet.

A ‘Blue Commons’ Agenda To Stop The Plunder Of Our Oceans

July 10, 2022 David Bollier. Create! climate crisis, Finance and the Economy, Oceans, The Commons

Even though the oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface and provide half the oxygen we breathe, they tend to be "out of sight, out of mind," especially in landlocked nations or regions. It's therefore important to recognize that the market/state system is hard at work ravaging this sector of the natural world, too. Industrial-style fish trawlers are overexploiting fisheries, pushing many to the brink of collapse, and mining companies are chewing up the ocean floor in search of oil, gas, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and rare-earth minerals.

United Nations: Four Key Climate Indicators Broke Records In 2021

May 24, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Educate! Carbon emissions, climate crisis, Environment, Oceans

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization released its annual State of the Climate report on Wednesday, and the result is a grim account of the progression of the climate crisis. The report found that four key climate indicators broke records in 2021: greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean acidification, ocean temperature and sea level rise. “Today’s State of the Climate report is a dismal litany of humanity’s failure to tackle climate disruption. Fossil fuels are a dead end – environmentally and economically,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in response to the report, as The Guardian reported. A WMO press release outlined how human activity led to broken climate records.

Despite Oceans ‘In Crisis,’ Global Treaty Talks Falter

March 23, 2022 Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams. Create! climate crisis, Environment, Oceans, Treaties

In the wake of collapsed U.N.-backed talks, ocean defenders this week are urging global governments to reach a robust treaty by year's end to safeguard the world's high seas from exploitation and the climate crisis. "Government promises to protect at least a third of the world's oceans by 2030 are already coming off the rails," Will McCallum of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign said in a statement Monday. A failure to reach a Global Ocean Treaty in 2022 would mean "no way to create ocean sanctuaries in international waters to allow them to achieve that 30×30 goal," he said. "This treaty is crucial because all of us rely on the oceans: from the oxygen they give to the livelihoods and food security they provide."

Protests Grow In South Korea Over Japan’s Fukushima Water Plan

May 4, 2021 Frank Smith, Al Jazeera. Resist! Fukushima, Japan, Oceans, Radioactive Waste

Seoul, South Korea - Lee Dong-ho, 73, has been fishing waters off South Korea’s southern coast near Japan for 40 years and his eldest son is now taking over the family business, their lifeblood. Lee farms snapper and yellowtail, mackerel and anchovy, and runs a drying and processing plant. “We are surrounded on three sides by the sea,” Lee, who lives in Dadae village on Geoje Island, told Al Jazeera. South Korea has transformed its fishing industry over the past 30 years amid criticism of overfishing. Lee represents positive change as most of his business involves marine-fish farming – as opposed to open-water catching – which now makes up more than half of South Korea domestic seafood production.

Should Marine Species Own The High Seas?

April 20, 2021 Karen Bradshaw, Nautilus Oceans. Create! climate crisis, Oceans, Rights of Nature, Sea Creatures

Later this year, the United Nations will finish hosting the final negotiations on a new conservation treaty for the high seas, as waters that lie outside national jurisdiction are known. These cover more than half of Earth’s surface and contain much of the planet’s biodiversity. The moment marks a tremendous opportunity in humanity's losing battle against biodiversity loss. Thus far, however, conversations about how best to protect the high seas have missed a crucial element, one that could well be the single boldest, most important conservation move that humankind could make: recognizing the property interests of the marine species now living there. Every whale and shark and sea turtle, every tuna and toothfish, every octopus and even every salp and sea urchin and anemone, has a right to own their part of the ocean.

«1 2 3 »

Daily movement news and resources