Critical Thinking

Global Warming and the Oceans

Global Warming is very real and we are all at risk when it comes to the negative impacts it is having on the earth. In the bible it says "Thou shalt not kill," but yet we kill our plant everyday with the amount of pollution we pump into the atmosphere. The proof is out there and it is very easy to see if only you will look. Here are a few of the major impacts we can expect if global warming is not put in check:

• Coral bleaching

The world’s coral reefs are some of the most amazing and diverse ecosystems on the planet, but they’re in grave danger from global warming. Corals contain microscopic algae that provide the coral with food and give them their vibrant colors. Rising ocean temperatures cause corals to expel these algae, thus turning them white or "bleaching" them. Worse, the corals die if the algae don’t return.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, experienced its worst ever case of coral bleaching in 2002, when over 60 percent of the reef was affected. Unless projected levels of climate change are slowed, much of the reef will be dead in decades. Worse, hundreds of species relying on the reef will also die out along with their living home.

Corals the world over are facing the threat of bleaching, from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to the Galapagos Islands and the Philippines.

•Global melting

As global temperatures rise, the world’s ice melts. It’s as simple as that. And we’re already witnessing this happening. Our recent Arctic Impacts expedition was all about documenting the meltdown of Greenland’s glaciers and trying to understand the mechanisms behind it.

The melting of the world’s sea ice and glaciers will have a number of implications, perhaps the most discussed being that as Arctic sea ice melts there will be fewer habitats for polar bears, further imperiling this already endangered species. But global melting will also contribute to sea level rise and change the salinity of the...