The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently reported that the surface temperature of the ocean during August was the warmest ever on record.
Ocean surface temperatures averaged 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer of 2009, one degree Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average, according to NOAA. Also significant, the University of Bergen, Norway, reported that the summer Arctic water temperature has increased by 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1990s.
The numbers may sound small, so perhaps some extraordinary instances in nature will enlighten even the skeptics to the fact that global changes are indeed taking place. Fish are traveling north into previously unchartered waters, with more than 20 new species cited found off Iceland, including blue sharks and flounders. Frogs and bees are disappearing worldwide. Spring seems to arrive earlier each year in the temperate zone.
This is all more than coincidence.
Extreme changes in global atmosphere composition and ocean pH lead to ecological uncertainty, and scientists who study these subjects say that we are reaching tipping points — the place in time that if epic concentrations and unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are achieved, we will change the planet as we know it, and the shift will not be gentle.
Atmospheric and oceanic changes mean severe storms, mass deaths of fish species due to collapsing colonies of plankton that cannot live in an acid environment and many lands lost the world over — submerged as sea level rises.
The obvious results are death, environmental refugees and loss of major global food supplies, but there's also the trickle-down effects of unstable economies and resource-driven war sure to touch every nation.
Is there a Green Quick Fix? What can we do?
For individuals, the organization 350.org has called every citizen of Earth to action tomorrow. 350.org's mission is that through awareness and international agreement we can collectively return to safe atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and can reverse global warming trends.
Earth's atmosphere is at 390 parts per million and counting. Just a few years ago, it was at 382 ppm. According to the National Air and Space Administration scientist Jim Hansen, 350 is the healthy number we should together be aiming to return to.
On the community level, Massachusetts has passed the Green Communities Act as our Green Quick Fix to lowering carbon footprints city by city. The act proposes several reforms that will conserve energy and promote clean energy economy in the state. At this time, with mayoral elections approaching, several incumbents and hopefuls are touting embracement.
On the national scale, RepowerAmerica.org is pushing for clean energy within a 10-year time frame. The Waxman-Markley comprehensive energy bill, also known as American Clean Energy and Security Act, was passed by the House of Representatives in June and is awaiting action in the Senate. The bill proposes a cap-and-trade global warming reduction plan designed to reduce economywide greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020. The bill has its share of allies, although some argue that measures proposed are simply not comprehensive enough.
Where you can start
Tomorrow, there are numerous events in the area, including:
The Salem Alliance for the Environment sponsors a rally and aerial photo of a "human 350" at 2 p.m. in Salem at the pedestrian mall in front of the Peabody Essex Museum.
A five-mile bike ride "into the future" starts at the Salem Power Station at 2:30 p.m. and ends at Beverly's Greenergy Solar Park.
The Topsfield-Boxford-Middleton League of Women Voters will sponsor a green fair and climate change teach-in at Proctor School in Topsfield from 9 a.m. to noon.
Trustees of Reservations will hold a climate change presentation at Ravenswood Park Education Center, 481 Western Ave., Gloucester, at 4:30 p.m.
For more information, go to 350.org and search your ZIP code.
Organizers will share pictures and stories with 350.org, which will compile data for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
Copenhagen has become the quest for the environmental grail. It's the opportunity to resurrect international global warming treaty, and many fear that this meeting is our last hope. Some believe we have a window of just three years to put global environmental devastation in reverse, and that within 10 years, we will experience the shift to ecological instability.
Coordinated international demand for climate change could prove persuasive with UN world leaders. I hope you will join me tomorrow in taking action.
¢¢¢
Andrea Fox, a Beverly resident, has been writing about environmental sustainability and eco-topics for nine years. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and a watershed protection advocate in Salem Sound Watershed. Visit her Web site at www.msgreenquickfixes.com.
