Most of Earth might be covered with water, but the large population of bipedal animals that crowd the planet’s land masses is doing its best to leave its imprint on the oceans as well.
A new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finds that humans have had a heavy impact on more than 40 percent of the world’s oceans. That’s an area of more than 55 million square miles, or more than 144 million square kilometers.
NOAA researchers combined data from about 17 different human activities — including fishing, fertilizer runoff, shipping and pollution — to generate a global map on how those factors are affecting the oceans.
The marine regions suffering the most include the East Coast of North America, the North Sea, the South and East China seas, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Bering Sea and parts of the western Pacific. So far, the polar seas remain the least impacted (give climate change a little more time, though, and that could soon no longer be the case).
“The extent of human influence was probably more than any of us expected,” said Kenneth Casey, a co-author of the study, which will be published in tomorrow’s (Feb. 15) issue of Science.
In those areas, the ecosytems facing the greatest threats are coral reefs and seagrass beds, both of which are critical habitats or nursey grounds for fish, as well as coastal mangroves.
Maybe this latest study will help further weaken one of the arguments used by climate change deniers, the one that says humans are too puny to wreak large-scale damage to a planet the size of Earth. Puny, yes, but damaging? Without a doubt.
Shirley Siluk Gregory
Shirley Siluk Gregory, a transplanted Chicagoan now living in Northwest Florida, represents the progressive half of Green Options' Red, Green and Blue segment. She holds a bachelor's degree in Geological Sciences from Northwestern University but graduated in 1984, just when the market for geologists was flatter than the Florida landscape. Just as well, though: she had little interest in spending her life either in a laboratory or, heaven forbid, an oil field. So, of course, she went into journalism. After extremely low-paying but fun and educational stints at several suburban Chicago weeklies and dailies, Shirley and her then-boyfriend/now-husband Scott found themselves displaced by a media buyout and spending the next several years working as freelancers. Among their credits: The Chicago Tribune, a publication for the manufactured-housing industry, and Web Hosting Magazine, a now-defunct publication that came and went with the dotcom era. Shirley's always been concerned about nature and conservation (and an avid pack-rat, as her family can attest to), but became even more rabidly interested in the environment primarily due to two factors: the growing signs that global warming was real and threatening, and the birth of her son, Noah, in 2003. Suddenly, the prospect of a world that might not be quite as habitable in 40 or 50 years took on a whole new, and personal, meaning. Living where she lives now also helped light the fire of Shirley's environmental awareness: her hometown was severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and beaten up again by Hurricane Dennis in 2005. That, and the fact that she and her family were vacationing in New Orleans until the day before Katrina -- and spent 12 hours driving home for a trip that normally takes 3 -- has made Shirley deeply appreciate how fragile our lifestyles are, and how dependent they are on sound management of natural resources and sustainable living practices. That's why she's become a passionate reader and writer about all things green and sustainable.