“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.”
Isak Dinesen
The Olympic Games make me happy. Watching these incredible athletes live out their life dreams is so inspiring. Breaking records is exciting when we’re talking about the Olympics, but not so much when it comes to the climate.
Data is rolling in from 2021, and we are breaking more climate records. For example, in an article just published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, an international group of scientists report that ocean temperatures hit a new record high in 2021…for the sixth year in a row.
As I wrote about in a previous post, the average surface temperatures have been increasing, but the ocean temperatures are rising even faster. The reason is oceans absorb the majority of the extra heat in the atmosphere.
This chart, from the article cited above, shows the changes in ocean temperature over the past 60 years.
But why should we care? Isn’t a warmer ocean more fun for beach vacations and water sports? Sure, but then consider this – warmer oceans:
- Harm marine animals
- Kill coral reefs
- Melt arctic sea ice, which leads to higher sea levels
- Make storms more powerful
- Cause more rain and flooding
If we accelerate the transition to renewable energy (and I will be writing a lot more about how in later posts), we can still reverse this trend. Those are the records I’m looking forward to hearing about.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.