On May 21, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, in Hamburg, Germany, ruled that greenhouse gases are marine pollutants and that countries must act to “reduce, control and prevent” their effects. The court, sometimes called the Ocean Court, responds to requests from a consortium of small island nations that have disappeared under the sea.
The United States is not one of the 169 parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, but adheres to its principles. And when the unanimous decision of the tribunal is not legally binding, it will affect the national and global courts of the current case brought against the fossil fuel industry and well-funded resistance to carbon-free, renewable energy of the future.
Former President Donald Trump offered himself to the resistance in April when he asked for billions of dollars in donations from oil executives on the promise, if re-elected, to reverse President Joe Biden’s clean energy rules. Big Oil can always pay bribes. One billion dollars represents about 1% of the profits earned by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP combined last year under Biden’s moderate climate policies.
That’s why the court ruling may not be enough to stop or even slow down the sea’s approach to boiling point.
Climate impacts exceed all other insults to the marine environment, including overfishing and oil, chemical and plastic pollution. Adding to the danger, unhealthy floodplain development is destroying coastal habitats in places like Jakarta, Indonesia; Lagos, Nigeria; Houston; and Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a law banning any reference to climate change by state agencies.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is warning of above-normal hurricane activity this year, predicting 17-25 named storms (up from an average of 14), with four to seven major hurricanes. The cause is near-record high temperatures in the Atlantic, combined with a La Niña cooling phase in the Pacific. (Fun fact, water temperatures in recent La Niña years have been warmer than El Niño years in previous decades, according to NOAA.) And, of course, hurricane damage will only increase with sea level rise associated with water warming seas (H2O expands when heated – boil a tea kettle if you don’t believe it), plus melting sea ice and glaciers.
A scientific review found that the duration of ocean heat waves has increased by more than 50% since 1925. In 2014, 50% of the ocean was affected, and last year, more than 90% of the ocean was affected by internal heatwave temperatures, including one. the day when the water temperature in the Florida Keys was measured at 101 degrees. Average global sea surface temperature hit a record of almost 70 degrees Fahrenheit one day last year, the highest ever recorded, and a stark contrast to the 61 degrees average throughout the 20th century.
That should come as no surprise since 90% of the heat produced by burning fossil fuels – along with about a third of the carbon dioxide – has been absorbed by the oceans. Carbon dioxide, which is buffered into carbonic acid, increases the acidity of seawater, which is bad news for corals, shellfish and other shell-forming creatures. Also, warmer and more acidic oceans contain less dissolved oxygen, developing hundreds of “dead zones” in coastal waters, as tracked by the United Nations.
Not worried yet? In 1997-98 I reported on the first global coral bleaching event, which was caused by extremely hot water and affected 16% of all coral reefs. In April, scientists reported the fourth and largest global bleaching to date, now affecting more than 54% of the world’s coral reefs and growing by 1% per week.
Coral bleaching is similar to but more widespread than the dead kelp forests off the coast of South Australia and California. Ninety-five percent of Northern California’s kelp forests have been displaced by sea urchin “barrens” since the West Coast ocean heat waves of 2014, ’15 and ’16, when water temperatures averaged 7 degrees above normal. A study conducted by Oregon State University found that with the destruction of kelp forests, migrating gray whales will lose weight and energy because kelp helps produce phytoplankton that the whales eat.
Although most of the impacts of ocean climate remain invisible and, therefore, unthinkable, I have met so many people who are directly affected by these changes – fishermen, surfers, beach house owners, beach town shop keepers – it is no wonder why Law- Law of the Sea Tribunal Judgment is not the main news on our blue planet. Also, why isn’t climate change, which is causing warmer, wetter, and more extreme weather in state after state, a major issue in the 2024 US election?
It could be that this summer’s hurricanes take out Miami, Tampa, Charleston or Houston, or that shrimp start to cook at sea before being harvested. Court rulings can cool the ocean, if there is a way or will to enforce it.
