Marine Pollution

February 6, 2022

Written by: Caroline Kim

There are numerous aspects of the environment that impact and can be harmful to the ocean, but some of these issues reach as far as the ocean. These are a result of human activity as well as other global impacts such as climate change.

One major issue is pollution, which can be in the form of straight out ocean dumping; this is simply when waste and debris are dumped into the ocean. A less forward form of pollution is runoff: pollution comes from all over the earth such as soil from agricultural lands. This can especially be threatening to life in the oceans, because this type of runoff can carry dangerous chemicals with it. Another major issue is derived from infamous carbon emissions: carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere lowers the pH level in oceans, which endangers ocean life and can be a problem to those who depend on fish. Going hand in hand, climate change also causes rising sea levels, increasing the possibilities of flooding.

A major ocean affected by these climate changes is the Arctic; this is due to the amounts of snow and ice in the oceans. In fact, the arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as that of most of the world. Because animals in the arctic are so specialized, this change in the climate is expected to cause alterations in the food webs as well as animal behavior. Because of their rapidly changing habitat, and prey/predators, animal populations in the arctic are also expected to change. Cut downs on carbon dioxide and methane would significantly reduce climate change, including climate change in the arctic. But what is the best solution? Putting a price on carbon? Trees? What are your thoughts?

Sources:

Raunek, et al. “11 Threats to Marine Environment You Must Know.” Marine Insight, 25 Aug. 2021, https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/11-threats-to-marine-environment-you-must-know/.

“Climate Change in the Arctic.” Norsk Polarinstitutt RSS2, https://www.npolar.no/en/themes/climate-change-in-the-arctic/#:~:text=The%20Arctic%20is%20warming%20three%20times%20as%20fast%20and%20the%20global%20average.&text=(albedo%20effect).-,This%20significant%20regional%20warming%20leads%20to%20continued%20loss%20of%20sea,fast%20and%20the%20global%20average.

“Climate Change and the Arctic.” Marine Mammal Commission, 2 May 2019, https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/arctic/climate-change/.

“How to Save the Arctic's Moderating Role on Global Warming.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1 Apr. 2019, https://thebulletin.org/2019/04/how-to-save-the-arctics-moderating-role-on-global-warming/#:~:text=Fast%20mitigation%20at%20scale%20can,by%20up%20to%20two%2Dthirds.