fbpixel ocean acidification Archives - Mission Blue

Blog Archives
Saanich Inlet and the Southern Gulf Islands at Risk – Mission Blue Takes Action

By: Emily Bates, PADI

Teeming in the cool waters of Vancouver Island, Canada is some of the greatest diversity of marine life in North America. The famous Jacques Cousteau stated that, “it’s the best temperate-water diving in the world and second only to the Red Sea.”
In March 2017, Mission BlueTM proudly announced the approval of a new Hope Spot: Saanich Inlet and the Southern Gulf Islands in British Colombia, Canada. Bordered by Vancouver Island, the mainland of North America, and the USA/Canada border, this special location is rich with ecologically diverse creatures and plants that are unique from anywhere else in the world.
Despite its value, this Hope Spot faces many challenges like overfishing, heavy marine traffic, urban development that causes pollution, and agricultural run-off that threaten the health of this region.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories |

Leave a comment
Sculptural sea creatures invade the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

COURTNEY MATTISON: SEA CHANGE
january 30 — april 17, 2016virginia museum of contemporary art • 2200 parks ave • virginia beach • va • 23451
Hundreds of intricately hand-sculpted ceramic marine invertebrates currently inhabit the main gallery of Virginia MOCA, comprising two large wall installations and 11 sculptural works that explore the fragile beauty of ocean ecosystems and the human caused threats they face — especially the impacts of our greenhouse gas emissions on coral reefs — in a solo show by Courtney Mattison, a self-described ocean “artivist” (artist/activist) and part of the Mission Blue team.

aqueduct
What if climate change causes tropical sea creatures to migrate towards the poles and invade terrestrial spaces as seawater warms and sea levels rise?…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

2 Comments
Join Hello Ocean on a Scientific Odyssey

News from our partners at Hello Ocean: Filmmakers Teresa and Ben Carey invite you to join a scientific odyssey to document ocean acidification and map ocean noise pollution.

Award winning sailors and filmmakers, Teresa and Ben Carey, are taking the lead in an exciting new cooperative venture between the sailing and scientific communities. They are partnering with The Ocean Foundation, Dr. Nina Bednarsek and Swift Engineering to create a citizen science project in which ocean going vessels can take part collecting vital data that will help document the state of the world’s oceans. Their project, called Hello Ocean, launches this summer.
Ocean acidification was recently cited among the top five research interests of ocean scientists worldwide. Ocean acidification is the continuous decrease in the pH of the ocean, caused by carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

4 Comments
Uniting Ocean and Earth for Climate Action

By Courtney Mattison  This winter, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris will feature one of the largest gatherings of world leaders to ever address global warming. The stage is set for all United Nations member states to come together and create an international agreement on the climate with the goal of keeping global warming below 2°C. In anticipation of this opportunity, President Barack Obama announced an action plan to combat climate change in June. Also this summer, Pope Francis demonstrated a masterful understanding of the science behind global warming and urged Catholics to take immediate action to combat greenhouse gas emissions in his recently released encyclical. Even China, the world’s heaviest polluter, has committed to significantly reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue |

5 Comments
Priority chemicals and marine biodiversity

From our new partners at the GOES Foundation (Global Oceanic Environmental Survey):
by Dr. Howard Dryden, GOES Founder
Nature 2010 and Nature 2011 reported that there has been a 40% drop in primary productivity in the North Atlantic since the 1950s. At the same time, oceanic pH started to decline sharply, causing seawater to acidify.  This trend may be related to an increase in industrial output and carbon dioxide emissions. However, as a marine biologist specializing in some of the largest aquarium life support systems in the world, I know that carbon dioxide is used to increase primary productivity. Woods Hole reported that an increase in carbon dioxide increased photosynthetic productivity, yet over the last 60 years there may have been a reduction by 40%.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

Leave a comment
Speaking Up for the Ocean During Climate Week NYC

By Courtney Mattison
Climate Week is in full swing and started out with a spectacular series of events in New York City last weekend, many of which related to the ocean. While the ocean was not (to many conservationists’ surprise and dismay) a focal point of the UN Climate Summit with world leaders yesterday, it has received the attention it deserves for absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and bearing the brunt of climate change at numerous independent events.
On Saturday night, the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) illuminated the 30-story United Nations Headquarters with a magnificent architectural-scale public light display of inspiring imagery ranging from macro footage of undulating coral polyps to a vast landscape of the aftermath of an oil spill. The visual effects were dynamic, constantly morphing and pulsing into one another with music and creating an experience that was at times haunting and at others uplifting.…

Posted in mission blue |

Leave a comment
Art brings the coral reef crisis above the surface

By Courtney Mattison
Coral reefs have captivated my imagination for as long as I can remember. I am happiest when the exotic forms, vibrant colors and often-venomous appendages of the animals that inhabit a tropical reef dance through the window of my scuba mask as I slowly hover above. Maybe it’s because I’m relatively small and I respect small creatures that can build big beautiful things, but I feel like I relate to corals – arguably one of the least relatable animals – on a very deep level.
I often feel like a coral, working in my studio using simple tools and my hands to methodically sculpt and texture clay to construct large, delicate, stony structures that mimic the prolific reef-builders.…

Posted in mission blue, Partner Stories |

1 Comment
Ocean Acidification – A Clear and very present danger

From their ongoing ‘Sea Change’ series, Seattle Times environmental reporter Craig Welch and photographer Steve Ringman “present an extraordinary window on a scientific fact: The oceans are rapidly acidifying.” If we don’t act fast to undo the damage, the consequences for the oceans – and for us, whose lives depend on them – are profound. The Seattle Times explores how ocean acidification could alter the seas on a scale almost too big to fathom.
The video, “Sea Change” was produced by PBS NewsHour, using The Seattle Times’ reporting and video, and funded in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Featured Photo: This pteropod, also known as a sea butterfly, comes from Puget Sound. The tiny shelled creatures are an important food source for many fish and seabirds.…

Posted in Multimedia |

Leave a comment