Tag Archives: Ocean

Awareness Newsletter N° 36

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Good Week!

I have read an excellent but alarming article on the current state of the oceans throughout the world. The article says that “the massive liberation of carbon dioxide is provoking a submarine phenomenon which few have perceived: the ocean water is getting acid. (…) the superficial waters from the oceans are slightly alkaline, with an average pH around 8.2 (…). The pH parameter reflects the thermodynamic state of the whole acid-alkaline system present in sea water (…) and it indicates the presence of biological processes such as photosynthesis and respiration.”

Pilas en el fondo del océano

Pilas en el fondo del océano

Consequences? “The skeletons from the sea animals are weakened massively because they are being fertilized with a lot of carbon. That change in the acid levels or pH of the sea water produces a lack of calcite, dolomite and other carbonates with which coral reefs, skeletons, and sea shells are formed.” Hence, we are weakening the ocean’s biodiversity. And that same biodiversity represents the carbon drain of the ocean.  This is to say that all the biomass of the ocean is in charge of absorbing 95% of the carbon dissolved in the water, helping enormously the flow of carbon through its recycling cycle.
Hence, -and this is the important idea- we are doing the same with the oceans as we are doing with forests. By contaminating the atmosphere (adding carbon dioxide to the environment because of our ways of life, in the thousand ways possible we, luckily, already understand) we are demanding Earth to absorb more… but at the same time, we are chopping down the life that absorbs that excess in exchange for MONEY in the short term. The carbon dioxide which does not move over land, moves over the water and, here as well, it is the same life, the biosphere, who manages the absorption in order to recycle.

But, overfishing is reaching its peak in their growth –looting- curve and the oceans capacity of carbon dioxide absorption is decreasing. Hence, life gets stucked. The energy flow through the ecosystems decreases. And Gaia needs a constant dual unbalance that comes and goes finding a homeostatic state for living, a dynamic flow of chemical elements, substances, gases, throughout all of its being. Exactly as our heart pumps up blood and vitamins and defenses to all our body. We are like waste that atrophies the correct flow of things. We have to change. Of course that talking about overfishing is delicate. Various billions of people need to eat… but we should look for alternative ways and find professionals who design sustainable plans for managing the aquatic resources.

Today I found myself taking out 4 huge plastic bags with inorganic trash and plastics after cleaning up my place… (luckily I am writing these lines on a Thursday and today it is plastics recollection day, if not, I would have to keep the bags with me for 5 days in a row – the system is showing slow change, is it wrong to spend 5 days with inorganic trash in your home? – Yes – But it is worth doing it anyway…? ­- Sure! Because it is morally correct and it means helping the flow of the idea, of the change… I am sure that in a few years or months, the recollection system can improve as well as the entire service as long as there is a positive feedback with the people).

The thing is that I found myself taking out those bags… 600 km from the sea and then the ocean… and even so I felt I was contributing to the growth of the huge plastic island which was found in the Pacific Ocean in 2010 (and which of course is still growing fiercely and threatening to enhance the global environmental problems, but football is always more important, being the cool guy, or the hot girl, going shopping for things to numb the feeling of emptiness produced by waking up in a world that has left its spiritual roots, the mythical side…)

And I caught myself thinking of how it would be to have a city with different habits… and I only could think of how nice it would be to have that tiny artifact that turns plastic waste into distilled oil… I would then by a small motorbike indeed, I thought. And obviously, the products with plastic involved would be more expensive, because you would buy it, they have a main role, a function, but afterwards they replace all your money on fuel as they can be reutilized. It is just an idea… like the solution presented to convert the plastic island into a sustainable and floating island. What is positive is ideas to keep on coming, and people to put them in practice.

Think about it, talk about it…

Huge hug,

Brian Longstaff.-