Opinion: An Antidote for Environmental Despair
January 18, 2021 By Elin Kelsey Hakai Magazine When it comes to conservation, hope is much more useful than gloom.
Opinion: Plastic Trash is Not Just Litter. It’s a Climate Change Problem, Too
January 3, 2021 By Editorial Board Los Angeles Times President-elect Joe Biden will have a long to-do list the moment he takes over the White House this month. Plastic trash should be one of his priorities. Here’s why.
Renowned Wildlife Photographer Wants Your Help Preserving the Marine Life of the Galápagos
January 2, 2021 By Madelein Muzdakis My Modern Met My Modern Met had a chance to catch up with Shawn Heinrichs—one of the photographers shooting in the Galápagos and a co-founder of SeaLegacy (alongside Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, who began the organization).
Opinion: 2020’s Top Ocean News Stories
December 21, 2020 By Callie Steffen, Emma Critchley, Douglas McCauley Mongabay Marine scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, share their list of the top 10 ocean news stories from 2020.
Opinion: Our Oceans, Our Future
December 9, 2020 By Fabien Cousteau The New York Times To conquer the dual, interrelated crises of Covid-19 and climate change we have to start small, and dream big.
Opinion: Five Priorities for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
December 2, 2020 By Jane Lubchenco, Peter M. Haugan & Mari Elka Pangestu Nature Ocean ecosystems are under threat. They also hold solutions. Climate change is increasing sea levels and making the ocean warmer, more acidic and depleted in oxygen. The ocean has absorbed around 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse-gas emissions and…
Opinion: China’s Chance to Save Antarctic Sea Life
October 26, 2020 By John F. Kerry The New York Times Twenty-four countries and the E.U. have agreed to create three marine parks, which would ban fishing and other industrial activity. But to become a reality, China must also agree.
Opinion: Loud Calls For Global Shipping To Ditch Fossil Fuels And Meet Climate Goals
September 25, 2020 By Nishan Degnarain Forbes At UN Climate Week this week, calls have increased for shipping to urgently ditch fossil fuels to meet the planet’s climate goals.
Opinion: Treasure and Turmoil in the Deep Sea
August 14, 2020 By Steve H.D. Haddock and C. Anela Choy New York Times The growing push to mine the seabed threatens the vast and rich ecosystem between the surface and the seafloor.
Opinion: Why Are Blue Whales So Gigantic?
July 31, 2020 By Eric M. Keen Scientific American Dinosaurs were big, but these are the largest animals in the history of the planet—and we’re just beginning to understand the reasons for their size.
Opinion: Marie Tharp Pioneered Mapping the Bottom of the Ocean 6 Decades Ago – Scientists Are Still Learning About Earth’s Last Frontier
July 28, 2020 By Suzanne OConnell The Conversation July 30 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Marie Tharp, a geologist and oceanographer who created maps that changed the way people imagine two-thirds of the world. Beginning in 1957, Tharp and her research partner, Bruce Heezen, began publishing the first comprehensive maps that showed…
Opinion: Why We Need Sharks: The True Nature of the Ocean’s ‘Monstrous Villains’
July 6, 2020 By Helen Scales The Guardian Why did dolphins get Flipper while sharks got Jaws? These majestic, diverse animals bring balance to the ocean ecosystem – and they’re in grave danger.
Opinion: Saving The Oceans With Advanced Transportation Technologies
July 1, 2020 By Rahul Razdan Forbes Sustainability is driven by a carbon pipeline consisting of demand for energy, efficient delivery of energy to the end user, and finally dealing with the consequences of the process in the form of pollution. Virtualization, electrification, sequestration are powerful tools to accelerate the development of sustainable systems. Virtualization…
Opinion: How Global Regulators Are Selling Out the World’s Largest Tuna
June 16, 2020 By Jennifer Telesca Yale Environment 360 The international commission responsible for managing Atlantic bluefin — prized for high-quality sushi — is failing to protect this magnificent fish. The regulators’ focus on fishing industry profits points up the need to change the way we view, and value, the lives of wild creatures.
Opinion: To Save the Climate, Look to the Oceans
June 8, 2020 By Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Scientific American They can be a source of clean, renewable energy, sustainable food, and more.
Opinion: Ocean Data Need a Sea Change to Help Navigate the Warming World
June 8, 2020 By Annie Brett Nature Open up, share and network information so that marine stewardship can mitigate climate change, overfishing and pollution.
Opinion: I’m a Black Climate Expert. Racism Derails Our Efforts to Save the Planet
June 3, 2020 By Ayana Elizabeth Johnson The Washington Post Stopping climate change is hard enough, but racism only makes it harder
Opinion: Sustainable Bluefin Tuna? Not So Fast.
May 27, 2020 By Jennifer E. Telesca Hakai Magazine Buying fish with a clear conscience isn’t easy these days. The ocean is so depleted and the demand so high that only half of the world’s seafood comes from the wild. The rest is farmed. Well-intentioned consumers want to know how to minimize harm through their…
Opinion: 8 Ways to Rebuild a Stronger Ocean Economy After COVID-19
May 12, 2020 World Economic Forum Some of the COVID-19 stimulus packages that are being designed to recover land-based industries and communities are also exploring ways to leapfrog forwards into greener modes of operation. However, little is being considered for bluer modes of operations. Similar opportunities, however, await us in our ocean and on our…
Opinion: Ocean Wastelands
May 5, 2020 By Jordi Boada oceanographic Deserts are among the most impressive landscapes on earth. The loneliness and vastness of terrestrial deserts have attracted explorers since ancient times, succumbing to their bleakness. But I never imagined deserts like this could exist underneath the surface of the ocean.
Opinion: A Healthy Ocean Can Help Fight Pandemics
May 4, 2020 By Torsten Thiele, Marie-Christine Imbert, Timothy Bouley chinadialogueoceanCovid-19 is forcing the world to rethink our economies, supply chains and science. Widespread inconsideration of biology and ecology in planning have in part led to the challenging circumstances we are now in.
Opinion: COVID Underscores the Urgency of Holistic Community-Based Approaches to Conservation
April 27, 2020 Alasdair Harris MongabayImpacts of the coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable communities in the Global South go far beyond the looming public health emergency. The broader economic and environmental ramifications are of profound importance to biodiversity conservation. How the conservation movement responds will determine our relevance and credibility in the eyes of many communities…
Opinion: How Starfish, Snails and Salmon Fight Pandemics
April 17, 2020 By C. Drew Harvell The New York Times Now the world is seeing the deadly path cut by a terrestrial pandemic, spread by a new coronavirus that has killed tens of thousands of people worldwide as it continues its sweep. If anything good is to emerge from this, it will be in the…
Opinion: We need a global movement to transform ocean science for a better world
April 15, 2020 By Linwood Pendleton, Karen Evans, Martin Visbeck PNAS The current scale, pace, and practice of ocean scientific discovery and observation are not keeping up with the changes in ocean and human conditions. We need fundamental changes in the way that researchers work with decision makers to co-create knowledge that will address pressing development problems.
Opinion: The Most Remote Islands in the Atlantic Ocean Need Protection
March 30, 2020 Pew Charitable Trusts In the remote waters of the South Atlantic Ocean lies the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, some 2,400 kilometres (1,491 miles) west of South Africa. A chain of four islands, Tristan da Cunha covers a small land area—about one-tenth the size of London—but it has an exclusive economic zone (EEZ)…
Opinion: Taking a Stand to Save Earth’s Oceans
March 9, 2020 By Kendall Jones and James Watson Scientific American Given the connected nature of the ocean, a piecemeal approach is doomed to fail. The success of the Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework depends on collective action. Our science shows that the necessary scale of action is now clear, both for the ocean and on land—but the fate of…
Opinion: The Caribbean can make waves with a blue ocean economy
March 6, 2020 By Gerard Alleng Inter-American Development Bank The Sustainable Islands Platform (SIsP) is looking at the best ways to support island territories in their pursuit of sustainability and prosperity.