Oceans: Killing us slowly

Oceans: Killing us slowly – Aside from sea level rise slowly drowning our cities, our oceans broke two records last month – most acidic & the hottest temperature. Worse still, copious amounts of toxic chemicals have ended up in our oceans, killing us slowly.

So this month, we get on top of how bad it really is with 8 pollutants in our oceans that could kill us and grim results of a study in Cape Town. Warning! You will be grossed out. But the good news is that there are things we can do. We review 4 ways to get to zero chemical pollution in the ocean and dive deeper into two of the solutions with experts on the precautionary principle and growing green chemistry markets. And since rivers are a key delivery pathway for marine pollution, we round up with China’s newly released 2021 State of Ecology & Environment report.

The world could have prevented ~2 million premature deaths in 2019 alone if we had sound chemical management but we don’t. Every year thousands of toxic chemicals enter our oceans, which have detrimental if not deadly consequences on not just human life but marine life, biodiversity and even impact the climate. Find out which of these are in our review of 8 pollutants in our oceans that could kill you. Beware – after reading this, you may reconsider that next seafood meal or swim in the sea!

Cape Town’s False Bay is an example of just how bad marine chemical pollution (MCP) is; a recent study showed troubling findings as Professor Leslie Petrik and Cecilia Yejide Ojemaye share. See how these grim findings can impact our health, for example through lower sperm quality. Our “out of sight, out of mind” attitude towards ocean pollution needs to end.

Fortunately, there are things we can do now to get to zero marine chemical pollution. After all, it is us humans that got us into this situation so we can and must get ourselves out of it. If the dire health impacts and ick factor aren’t impetus enough, how about that the oceans are a key ally against climate change, and we are drowning them with toxic pollutants.

Find out what we can do in our 4 ways to get to zero chemical pollution, which highlights key solutions recommended from various experts in the report “The Invisible Wave: Getting to Zero Chemical Pollution in the Ocean” by the Economist Impact & the Nippon Foundation from regulating potential catastrophic effects of toxic chemicals to growing a green chems market.

But of course, this can only be achieved when we, as individual consumers take part too. Be aware of which toxic chemicals are contained in the products you buy and choose your brands accordingly. Your simple habit tweaks can make a difference in not just the ‘chemicals fight’ but also the climate fight.

To better understand how regulators and the industry could fast track safer chemicals we sat down with two experts. First up, Anne-Sofie Bäckar at ChemSec who spoke to us on the importance and practicality of adopting the precautionary principle. Plus, she also shares which chemical companies did best and worst on ChemSec’s Top 50 ranking.

Yes, regulatory changes pose risk but they also provide opportunity and in this case, the growth of green chemistry markets.  Green chemistry marketed products accounted for 61.5% of market growth from 2015 to 2019. Professor Joel Tickner from the University of Lowell Mas who has been working in the field for 15 years talks with us about the burgeoning start-up scene, investment opportunities and more.

Another way to prevent MCP is to clean-up the rivers, which essentially act as a delivery pathway to the oceans for pollutants.  This is something China has been focusing on in its war on pollution.

So, how is China fairing on water pollution and improving water quality? According to the 2021 State of Ecology & Environment (SOEE) the first SOEE under China’s 14FYP, national surface water quality has improved and 5 of its 7 major rivers are meeting targets, but it’s not all good news. Get the full roundup in our review. Plus, see what a doubling in monitoring stations means for the results.

As we wrap up the first half of the year, we’ve hit multiple firsts this month – the highest CO2 levels in the atmosphere in human history, Antarctic glacier loss at the fastest rate for the last 5,500 years plus microplastics are now found in human blood as well as fresh snow in Antarctica. Record-high ocean acidity and temperature levels are concerning as they impact marine biodiversity including phytoplankton which contributes around 50-80% of our oxygen depending on seasonal changes, nutrient loads, warming and so on.

Clearly, we must slow down the warming of our oceans or else we could lose our single biggest carbon sink and the main source of our oxygen. We also need to stop polluting them and restore their health. Whether our oceans remain our ally in our fight against climate change or whether they kill us slowly depends on all of us, so let’s get to it!