A Change of Sea

We’re really screwing up our oceans. But first, a word from our sponsor:

A very big thank you to all who submitted a proposal for our 30 Grants in 30 Days program. We’ve received dozens upon dozens of proposals from all over Virginia, and each one is a unique and worthwhile effort towards improving our natural environment and keeping Virginia beautiful. We’re excited to see these groups get to work, and will begin announcing winners on the 15th.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

We’d like for you to try an experiment:

Pour a cup of water into a pan. Pour a gallon of water into a second pan. Put the pans side-by-side on a stove. Next, put a teaspoon of food coloring into each pan. Now, begin to heat them. First, how noticeable is the coloring in the cup of water? Can you even tell a difference in the gallon? And how long does it take each to boil?

So imagine our oceans – millions of square miles with billions and billions of gallons of water. And we’re changing it.

A few times this summer, areas around Virginia Beach were closed for swimming due to dangerous levels of bacteria in the water. The major contributor to this was farm runoff, and, well, us. There’s a popular children’s book called Everyone Poops, and it explains our most basic bodily function in toddler language. Everyone does, and it goes somewhere.

In 1997, Charles Moore was captaining a yacht through the Pacific for a race when he noticed some bits of plastic floating by. It was a bit unusual to see in the open ocean. He soon noticed more, and more, and more. Returning scientists found the Pacific Garbage Patch – a man-made collection of debris and chemicals the size of Texas that has been gathered by an eddy in Pacific currents. Much of the plastic is microbeads, such as the practically invisible things that make your exfoliating facial wash, but much of it is fishing buoys, tires, and bottles. At one point, there is a veritable ecosystem; a plastic “island” that will support the weight of a man, with a reef of fishing nets, shores, and beaches. It has become home to a variety of shellfish and seaweed that shouldn’t be at home in the middle of an ocean.

In Alaska, there are thousands of miles of pristine wilderness coastline. Today, it’s lined with refrigerators, buoys, soccer balls, and shipping containers. It’s all detritus from the devastating Japanese tsunami. The people of Japan certainly had no intention of spoiling Alaska’s wild places, but it goes to illustrate that what goes in here comes out over there.

And then there’s the elephant in the room.

As our global temperatures have risen, the surface temperature of the oceans has risen. This has caused our oceans to expand, and has melted historically frozen parts of our poles. Records show that our average global sea level has risen about 8 inches over the past 100 years or so, and that trend is most likely speeding up.

In Norfolk, many churches put out a “tide chart” for parishioners, so that they’ll know if they’ll be able to get to services. Most of Norfolk is flat, and pretty close to sea level. Norfolk is also sinking, likely the result of development and pumping out ground water. So when high tide hits in Norfolk, much of the city finds itself dealing with “nuisance flooding.” During a storm or particularly high tide, this flooding is no longer a nuisance, but property destroying and potentially deadly. Near the Chrysler Museum the Hague river floods on a regular basis. Before 1980, it happened about 100 hours per year. The new normal is up to 300 hours per year. The museum just underwent a fantastic renovation, and much of the work was dedicated to sealing up the basement and moving important infrastructure upstairs.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that the population most threatened by a rise in sea levels in New Orleans. Coming in a close second is Norfolk and the rest of Tidewater. This week in 2005, thousands died in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed their defenses. Remember that?