Ocean mapping as it turns out is more important than just knowing what lies under what covers some 70% of the earth’s surface. Understanding the seafloor is important for safe navigation, for conservation efforts, for fisheries management because marine wildlife congregates around underwater mountains. But ocean mapping also has another function. It influences ocean currents and how water mixes in a vertical way, information which is relevant to climate since oceans play a pivotal role in moving heat around the planet, and therefore it has a role to play in the information needed for the models forecasting future climate change. The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean has undertaken the project of mapping the ocean floor around Antarctica. It’s obviously a huge undertaking and is now only 23% done, that is of 18.3 million square miles. Not a small feat. They have discovered mountains, canyons, plains, valleys, depressions they did not realize were there. The deepest depression to date called the Factorian Deep is 24,383 feet. That depth means even more when one realizes that Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on the surface of the Earth is 29,032 feet. The undertaking asks ships and boats to use their sonars, and also urges government, institutions and corporations to share their data and put it in the public domain. It is something that is paying off. Much of the information, however, comes from ice strengthened ships that are able to support scientific endeavors. That includes the UK’s RRS James Clark Ross which is soon to be replaced by the aptly named RRS Sir David Attenborough. The nature and size of the project are certainly impressive, their results can’t help but awe us and the fact that it is such an international endeavor given such a fractured world is notable too.
Tag: climate change
Cashmere and Climate Change
Mongolia has a problem, partly due to our increased demand for cashmere and partly due to climate change. Since it became a democracy in 1990 the number of cashmere producing goats has soared from 9000 in 1999 to 27,000 in 2020. These goats need grazing and certain climactic conditions have affected how much land there is to graze on to the point where 70% of the land is now overgrazed. The goats are taken care of by 1.2 million nomadic herders which make up 40% of the nation’s population and not only is their livelihood in danger as a result so is the economy of the country. Mongolia is the world’s second producer of cashmere after China, representing a fifth of global supply and it is the country’s third largest export after copper and gold. Now as the world’s demand for cashmere keeps rising, climate change is accelerating the need for more land to graze on. Temperatures in Mongolia have risen 2 degrees Celsius, more than the world’s average, turning a quarter of the country’s lands into desert, obviously exacerbating the problem with grazing .
What touches me about this story is how our actions, our needs, our preferences, have an effect on the nomadic herders of Mongolia. You can say it’s oblique, indirect, that other factors may be more relevant, marketing, or modern transportation systems, to name but two, but it still comes down to our penchant for the softness of cashmere. And as I think about it, it reminds me of the interconnectedness of the human family and the oneness of humanity. I hope it will for you too.
Where Nuclear Fallout and Climate Change Meet
In 1954 the US conducted nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, 67 tests in fact. Before leaving they took the radioactive materials and plutonium and buried them under a dome on a low lying atoll. But climate change has come to the Marshall Islands, and the rising seas are a threat to that dome and may destroy it because rising seas could unseal the toxic bomb inside the dome. But nothing is being done. Meanwhile the Marshallese are experiencing a much higher level of thyroid cancer. Many families are and have been affected. It is safe to say the conditions have created a crisis for them. Climate change is affecting the whole of the islands, no more pristine coral reefs, high water temperatures, as high as 96 degrees, are killing thousands of black angelfish, pufferfish and other marine life, and the rising sea threatens inundations. The government is planning to build sea walls, but how long they will last is not known, nor how long before another nuclear disaster occurs. Several countries now have nuclear weapons besides the US, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, France, several are on their way like Iran and North Korea, or are now trying to obtain them like Saudi Arabia, not to speak of non-state entities like terrorist groups. While the Marshall Islands is an example of the consequences of what the pursuit of those weapons and the accompanying testing inevitably entails, they also stand for what happens when the unforeseen happens, when those consequences intersect with climate change and the problems it brings. Hopefully the whole situation and the dangers it poses will be a reminder of how dangerous nuclear weapons are for the world, for the survivors, for the countries involved and for how unpredictable disposing of radioactive materials can be. And perhaps in an oblique way it will also be a reminder of how imperative addressing climate change now is.
Climate Change: Moral Failing
As part of their Polluters Project, The Guardian published a list of 20 of the world’s largest companies responsible for a third of all carbon emissions. Some are state owned, some are investor owned, and almost all are familiar names. Perhaps you’ve heard of the list, even so it’s too important not to reiterate. In order of how much carbon dioxide they have contributed since 1965:
Saudi Aramco, Chevron, Gasprom, Exxon Mobil, National Iranian Oil Co, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Coal India, Pemex, Petroleos de Venezuela, PetroChina, Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Iraq National Oil Co, Total SA, Sonatrach, BHP Billiton, Petrobras
A leading climate change scientist, Michael Mann, succinctly puts the problem this way, “The great tragedy of the climate crisis is that seven and half billion people must pay the price-so that a couple of dozens polluting interests can continue to make record profits. It is a great moral failing of our political system that we have allowed this to happen.” Moral failing is so apt. Some are calling on politicians at a climate change conference in Chile in December to take urgent measures to rein in polluters. It’s far from certain they will act, or will act in a meaningful way. Meanwhile the list is a reminder that climate change is a moral imperative we must each live with. If we drive and car pollution is a big culprit, it may be difficult to avoid these companies, still by being vigilant and holding the issue in our awareness, we may collectively continue to be the catalysts for needed action.