Tag: ocean acidification

Healthy Oceans: Charting A New Course

by | 4.30.2012 at 3:53pm
Rio+20 The Future We Want banner at entrance to the the United Nations

Leading up to Rio+20, on April 25th the United Nations hosted “Healthy Oceans: Charting A New Course,” a panel discussion which brought together a range of experts to discuss the fate of the world’s oceans and what can be done to protect them.

From Distant Past, Lessons on Ocean Acidification

by | 12.8.2011 at 4:42pm
A core section shows shells of foraminifera, and reduced carbonate preservation, at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. During the period, researchers believe up to half of deep-sea benthic foraminifer species suffered extinction. Photo: Laura Foster, University of Bristol

Oceans turned more acidic during a period of great warming some 56 million years ago, causing an extinction of bottom-dwelling marine species known as foraminifera, a scenario that may be happening again now, only much more quickly.

Have We Crossed the 9 Planetary Boundaries?

by | 8.5.2011 at 1:40pm | 2 Comments
Photo credit: NASA

“The world needs to awaken itself to the looming catastrophe of global warming,” said Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, at a recent meeting in Muscat. “We must provide a safe operating space where vested interest and lobby-driven policies will not see the world marching into disaster.”

Losing Our Coral Reefs

by | 6.13.2011 at 12:03pm | 5 Comments
Bleached staghorn coral. Photo credit: Matt Kieffer

Coral reefs, the “rainforests of the sea,” are some of the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems on earth. They occupy only .2% of the ocean, yet are home to a quarter of all marine species: crustaceans, reptiles, seaweeds, bacteria, fungi, and over 4000 species of fish make their home in coral reefs. With an annual [...]

Sea Change

by | 9.15.2009 at 10:00am

Bärbel Hönisch, an expert on ocean acidification at Columbia, will speak after a screening of the film “A Sea Change” this Thursday.