Wednesday June 8, 2022
ABC News —
Oceans do so much to sustain life on Earth, including bearing the brunt of global temperatures that have been steadily warming for decades.
An IPCC special report published in 2019 found that oceans — which make up more than 70% of the world’s surface — have absorbed between 20% and 30% of human-made carbon dioxide emissions since the 1980s. They’re also responsible for absorbing more than 93% of the “combined heat stored by warmed air, sea, and land, and melted ice” since the 1970s, according to the Fifth Assessment report published in 2013 by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The tipping point is near, experts told ABC News. But there are collective actions to take that could revitalize oceans to a healthier state — the theme of the United Nations World Oceans Day 2022.
“We really see oceans as the biggest ally in the climate change crisis,” Lea d’Auriol, founder of nonprofit Oceanic Global, told ABC News.