Human-driven climate change has set in motion massive ice losses in Greenland that couldn’t be halted even if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, according to a new study published Monday.

The findings in Nature Climate Change project that it is now inevitable that the Greenland ice sheet will melt — equal to 110 trillion tons of ice, the researchers said. That will trigger nearly a foot of global sea-level rise.

The predictions are more dire than other forecasts, though they use different assumptions. While the study did not specify a time frame for the melting and sea-level rise, the authors suggested much of it can play out between now and the year 2100.

The new research projects a worse outcome than previous sea-level findings; first, by calculating how much ice Greenland must lose as it recalibrates to a warmer climate.

“Every study has bigger numbers than the last. It’s always faster than forecast,” William Colgan, a study co-author who studies the ice sheet from its surface with his colleagues at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, said in a video interview.

A one-foot rise in global sea levels would have severe consequences. If the sea level along the U.S. coasts rose by an average of 10 to 12 inches by 2050, a recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found, the most destructive floods would take place five times as often, and moderate floods would become 10 times as frequent, which is particularly bad news for Hawaii’s coastal population centers throughout the island chain.

Last year, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported the total ice loss from Greenland by the end of the century was projected to be round half a foot of sea-level rise from Greenland by the year 2100. That scenario assumed humans would emit a large amount of greenhouse gases for another 80 years, and even with advances with GHG reductions.

The study offers some hope.  Even if more sea-level rise is locked in than previously believed, cutting emissions fast to limit warming close to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) would prevent things from getting much worse.

Greenland is the world’s largest island and is covered with a sheet of ice that, if it melted entirely, could raise sea levels by more than 20 feet. That is not in doubt — nor is the fact that in past warm periods in Earth’s history, the ice sheet has been much smaller than it is today. The question has always been how much ice will thaw as temperatures rise — and how fast.

Originally published August 7th ––

With direct economic, social, and environmental benefits for Hawaii, the legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, will slash America’s planet-heating emissions by about 40% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels.

Hawaii’s residents and businesses will benefit first hand from the bill’s economic assistance within a number of practical areas, as it serves as a major economic enabler for the state in transitioning to a clean energy economy and achieving Hawaii’s statewide goal of a fossil fuel-free electric grid by no later than 2045.

The bill’s emissions cut enablers will further bring the US within striking distance of a goal set by President Biden to cut emissions in half by 2030, a target that scientists say must be achieved if effects of catastrophic global heating, triggering escalating heatwaves, droughts and floods, now on the increase are mitigated.

Senator Brian Schatz (HI), described the bill’s passage as … “by far, the biggest climate action in human history”.

Billions of Federal investment dollars will go towards investments into clean and zero emissions renewable energy; such as wind, solar, battery storage, and hydrogen. The bill’s passage also includes electric vehicle purchase rebates for low-to-moderate income working families and businesses seeking to buy electric cars and trucks, support for households to run on clean electricity, while adopting energy efficiency strategies and products.

Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, on Passage of the Major Climate and Health Care reform bill – video link: https://youtu.be/LQmDwgvf49s

The Inflation Reduction Act in Summary

• The primary benefits of the bill will be a major reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by between 31% and 44% below 2005 levels by 2030, according to Rhodium Group, a non-partisan research firm. A separate analysis by Energy Innovation, another research house, has found a similar reduction, of between 37% and 41% this decade. In total, around 1bn tons of greenhouse gases, which is more than double the total annual emissions of the UK, would be eliminated within the next 10 years.

The range of estimates depends on factors such as future economic conditions, but experts say the bill will set off a cascade of positive impacts;

• pushing fossil fuels out of the energy grid,
• dampening America’s thirst for oil and
• further enable the wind and solar energy transformation of the electric grid by replacing the present day fossil fuel dependencies,
• A new system of fees will be imposed to stem leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas drilling operations.
• Consumer – Homeowner – Business Benefits (see below)
• The vast fleet of trucks used by the US Postal Service today will go all-electric.

“This bill will really turbocharge that transition to clean energy, it will transform markets where already solar PV, wind and batteries are in many cases cheaper than incumbent fossil fuels,” said Anand Gopal, executive director of policy at Energy Innovation.

“This is a dramatically large climate bill, the biggest in US history, when is passes in the House later this week, and is signed into law by President Biden. It doesn’t, however, mean the US won’t need to do more to achieve its emissions goals, but it will make a meaningful difference.”

The bulk of the bill is composed of tax credits aimed at unleashing a boom in clean energy deployment, along with payments to keep ageing nuclear facilities and other sources of low-carbon energy online.

The US is, following decades of political rancor and fossil fuel industry obfuscation, almost certain to make its first significant attempt to tackle the climate crisis. Experts say it will help rewire the American economy and act as an important step in averting disastrous global heating.

Independent analysis of the proposed legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, shows it should slash America’s planet-heating emissions by about 40% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels.  This cut would bring the US within striking distance of a goal set by President Biden to cut emissions in half by 2030, a target that scientists say must be achieved by the whole world if catastrophic global heating, triggering escalating heatwaves, droughts and floods, is to be avoided.

Consumer – Homeowner – Business Benefits

Blistering heatwaves, extreme storms, droughts, flooding, meltdowns in polar icecaps are just the beginning effects of global heating. Soon consumers will be able to do their part in the solution, while accessing Federal rebates of up to $7,500 for a new electric vehicle, or up to $4,000 for a used car, along with up to $8,000 to install a modern electric heat pump that can both heat and cool buildings. Further rebates are also on offer, such as $1,600 to insulate and seal a house to make it more energy efficient.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund provides $27 billion in funding, of which $15 billion will enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from zero emission technologies and other greenhouse gas pollution reductions.

The Clean Vehicle credit, or 30D, gives a $7,500 credit for new electric vehicles and a $4,000 credit for used electric vehicles. This will help everyday Americans afford to get an EV and start saving money every month. Operating an EV costs $1/gallon, which is way more affordable than an internal combustion engine car. This incentive will make clean cars the default and affordable choice for everyday Americans.

The High Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act (HEEHRA), included within the bill, provides $4.5 billion in direct rebates for low-and moderate-income households that install new, efficient electric appliances, using a framework proposed in our Appliance Rebate Plan. For instance, a low income household will receive a rebate covering the full cost of a heat pump installation for space heating, up to a cap of $8,000.

These actions would cut emissions while having other significant benefits.  In the national transition to a clean energy economy, the bill will add as many as 1.5m jobs  created within the growing clean energy sector, according to Energy Innovations.

Rewiring America forecasts that U.S. households that install, rooftop solar and drive an electric car will save $1,800 a year on energy costs, and for Hawaii state residents with the nation’s highest electric bills, that figure could be as high as $3,000 in annual  savings and households budgets.

The Energy Efficient Home Improvement credit, or 25C, allows households to deduct from their taxes up to 30 percent of the cost of upgrades to their homes, including installing heat pumps, insulation and, importantly, upgrading their breaker boxes to accommodate additional electric load. Upgrade costs include both equipment and installation/labor costs. These deductions are limited to $600 per measure, up to $1,200 per household per year—with one notable exception. Households can deduct 30 percent of the costs for buying and installing a heat pump water heater or heat pump for their space heating and cooling, up to $2,000.

The Residential Clean Energy credit, or 25D, re-ups an existing program allowing households installing solar to deduct 30 percent of the cost of the project from their taxes. This credit is guaranteed for 10 years, and now also includes residential battery storage systems.

The New Energy Efficient Home credit, or 45L, has received a substantial boost, providing up to $5,000 to developers to build homes that qualify for the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Homes standard. This applies to new single family, multifamily and manufactured homes, as well as existing homes that undergo a deep retrofit.

The Residential Clean Energy credit, or 25D, re-ups an existing program allowing households installing solar to deduct 30 percent of the cost of the project from their taxes. This credit is guaranteed for 10 years, and now also includes residential battery storage systems.

The Commercial Buildings Energy Efficient credit, or 179D, has been significantly expanded, offering $2.50 to $5.00 per square foot for businesses achieving 25 to 50 percent reductions in energy use over existing building performance standards.

The Rebirth of U.S. Manufacturing

The legislation also addresses the nation’s strategic current supply dependencies with China, which (in the last ten years) has become the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels, batteries and other clean energy materials.

• There are billions of dollars in incentives for the US domestic production of wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, carbon capture and storage and other clean energy technologies. Most specifically, $30 billion is available as a production tax credit to accelerate U.S. manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals processing in the U.S., and another $10 billion is allocated as an investment tax credit for building new facilities that manufacture these technologies.

Reinventing American Energy Dependency & Global Climate Creditability

The bill should change the way the US is viewed on the global stage and will encourage better pledges from other large emitters such as China and India, when fully implemented, experts estimate bill’s outcome benefits will be to keep temperature rise under 2C (3.6F).

Unfortunately, the world has passed the point of  its previous 1.5C cap on greenhouse gas impacts, which scientists now see as a stretch to reach this previous goal.

Some Climate advocates have criticized elements of the bill, specially Senator Joe Manchin’s successful insistence that oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico be included, along with a stipulation that millions of acres of federal land and water are opened up for fossil fuels if they are to be also accessed by solar and wind developers.

Energy sector researchers believe the clean energy benefits of the bill easily outweigh any extra emissions from new drilling, with every ton of new emissions offset by at least 24 tons of emissions avoided by other provisions. Yet the economics, social, environmental and climate benefits from today’s lower cost solar, wind, and storage energy increasingly  recognized by electric utilities, primary energy customers of fossil fuels outside of transportation, increasingly are choosing solar and wind options ahead of fossil fuels options, if for no other reason than cost, and the gap continues to grow in favor of clean and climate-friendly energy options.

Finally, the bill’s passage in the Senate represents the U.S. joining other large economies, in producing a long-term climate roadmap to sustainable and clean energy-driven economy.

“The Earth Can, and Will be Saved … If we work for a Sustainable Future, We will Achieve It.”

Elon Musk, Tesla (TSLA) shareholders meeting, August 4, 2022

Heat Waves Are Getting Hotter, here’s how to prepare

Hawaii is noted for, among other things, for its humid subtropical climate — By definition, subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones located to the north and south of the tropics.

Hawaii’s residents are no stranger to hot and humid summer days, but this year feels hotter than normal and the humidity a bit more stifling.

“The best-case (global warming) scenario is still that this is the coolest summer you’ll experience in the rest of your life,” said Ben Zaitchik, a professor in the earth and planetary sciences department at Johns Hopkins University, who studies extreme weather events. “We’re going to be facing heat waves of at least the intensity we’ve been experiencing the past couple of years and almost certainly of greater intensity, even if we decarbonize along the best-case scenario.”

“Heat is often referred to as the silent killer because it doesn’t get the kind of attention a big hurricane blowing in does,” he said. “Just being aware of that is critically important.”

Here are some helpful guidelines:

Prepare your indoor spaces to maximize staying cool

During heat waves, air conditioning can save lives. “Tragically, when we see people who succumb to heat-related illness or severe outcomes, it’s usually lack of access to air conditioning,” Matthew Levy, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins

But many homes don’t have air conditioning. Meanwhile, some people might choose not to run their units due to concerns about increasing utility bills, overloading electrical grids or contributing to human-caused climate change — which is exacerbating the intensity and frequency of extreme heat events.

Have a plan to access air-conditioned spaces, whether it’s outfitting your home with a wall unit or a portable device, or knowing of other places you can go, such as another person’s home, community cooling centers, public libraries or malls. Even being in air conditioning for a few hours can be helpful, Wilhelmi said.

Think about ventilation, Zaitchik said. Often, “ventilation is your friend, so really trying to get airflow can be really valuable.”

Fans can also be a huge help, as long as it isn’t too hot inside. When indoor temperatures reach the high 90s, electric fans, which move air around but don’t cool it, won’t prevent against heat-related illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If you’re purchasing fans, Zaitchik recommends choosing some battery-operated units in case of power outages. Place fans where they will draw in the coolest air — a fan in a window overlooking a leafy backyard is preferable to one that pulls in hot air and car exhaust from a busy roadway. Make sure any ceiling fans are spinning counterclockwise, so they push air down in a column.

Adding water can also enhance the effect of fans, experts said. Have a spray bottle handy and keep your skin moist by misting yourself often.

Stock up on water

In addition to using water to help keep your body cool, hydration is key. If you’re dehydrated, you may be more prone to developing other heat-related conditions because your body can’t sweat as efficiently or cool down as well, Grant Lipman, an emergency physician and founder of the GOES Health app, told The Post in June. “In effect, you body’s radiator is low on coolant.”

Have bottled water on hand or keep large jugs filled in case of water shortages, especially in areas where extreme heat has caused droughts.

Check on vulnerable people

Anyone can be negatively affected by hotter temperatures if they’re not careful, but certain populations are more vulnerable, including the elderly, young children, athletes, people who have chronic medical conditions, pregnant people and those who may be struggling with mental health issues. Heat can also exact a psychological toll on people who don’t have preexisting mental health conditions.

If you know anyone who might be at increased risk, check in on them and make sure they’re equipped to stay safe. This may mean inviting an elderly relative to stay with you, helping someone get to a community cooling center, or dropping by people’s homes to see whether their air conditioners are working or to bring them cold drinks. Additionally, it’s important to help strangers who may be in need.

“Really, the difference between a severe heat stress affecting somebody, a vulnerable person, and them being fine can be the difference of opening a window or getting a bottle of water,” Zaitchik said.

Don’t forget pets or plants

Heat can exact a toll on pets and plants, too.

If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for your pet. Beyond making sure your animals can stay cool and hydrated and watching for signs of overheating, avoid unprotected walks on hot pavement or asphalt, which can burn paw pads.

Cicadas, plants and too much sun: How to keep your pet safe from summer hazards

For plants, think about when and how you water them, according to an article published by Oregon State University.

Watering in the morning gives plants time to absorb moisture before it gets too hot, said Erica Chernoh, a horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Make sure water penetrates at least six inches down, and if you’re watering by hand, pour close to the soil under the plant, she suggests.

It could also be helpful to use shade cloth over your plants or add mulch around them, which can slow down evaporation, according to Chernoh. Potted plants and seedlings can be moved to shadier spots.

As BeyondKona reported earlier in “A Titan Battle: Oil versus Climate” words and actions matter in the battle to address climate change.

Clearly, to win this epic battle and to save the planet humanity requires more than just public participation, e.g., adding solar to rooftops and driving electric vehicles. The producers and consumers of this fossil fuel energy play have a role and responsibility in determining the future and outcome of life on this planet.

In what can only be described as a battle of epic proportions began with corporate and political denial, but has since been replaced by overwhelming scientific proof and a removal of decades of doubt and denial. The cause and effect role humans play in creating and piling-on global warming emissions is now well established, as are the increasing consequences.

Climate change is perhaps the most disruptive change to Earth since humans arrived on the scene.

Solutions to the magnitude of the problem have been blocked or delayed by a global economy based on obsolete fossil fuels. Corporate Greenwashing is just one more element in this battle.  Change is hard, very hard, and for those invested in the past ignoring both the present and future consequences of global warming are especially difficult to accept or change.

Greenwashing is an effective propaganda tool designed to slow energy and climate reforms. It’s expressing an intention or action and doing the opposite. It is baked into the climate battle between those who are chiefly responsible for creating the problem, and the public which shares in that responsibility as consumers of fuels unsettling Earth’s delicate climate balance.   It’s comforting being told …“don’t worry, be happy”, but when reality sets in it spoils the party.

First things first: What do companies mean by net zero?

Becoming carbon neutral involves two basic corporate actions:

• Companies need to decarbonize their business by lowering their emissions, and
• Compensate for the unavoidable emissions through carbon offset programs like reforestation projects and carbon removal technologies.

But, for now, compensating for emissions is often a gamble. Forests that form the basis for carbon offsets are complicated because those forests can burn, releasing their stored carbon into the air and defeating the idea of an offset; exactly what the controversial biomass power plant Hu Honua would do if it became operational on Hawaii Island; destroying local forests and burning those trees for power generation.

Most of the technologies designed to remove carbon that’s already in the atmosphere are prohibitively expensive and not in use on any commercial scale.

A government, business or individual can attempt to balance their own emissions by finding other ways to remove an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The process is called carbon offsetting.

Altogether, these uncertainties mean carbon offsets should be marginal in corporate plans, according to the standards set by Science Based Targets (a nonprofit group that assesses corporate goals). Carbon off-sets are a key component in the majority of corporate emissions mitigation plans. A true audit would reveal most companies will only be able to rely on these tools to offset 10 percent of their emissions.

Some companies, like the ones in the fossil fuel sector and cement production plants, will need to radically change the core of their business models. There is no workaround.

Carbon reduction pledges – what are companies doing between now and 2050?

Most pledges have 2050 as their target date. That’s because of the scientific consensus that, if the world can stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by then, we should be able to hold warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Beyond that level, the dangers of global warming — including worsening floods, droughts, wildfires and ecosystem collapse — grow considerably.

But it’s a long way to 2050. Experts say any credible pledge should have short- and medium-term targets, too, for every five or ten years. Pratima Divgi, who heads the capital markets department for CDP North America, said interim targets were useful for many reasons, not just measuring performance. Setting and working through targets transparently is also key for shareholders and civil society to assess progress.

What companies exclude in their GHG emissions targets?

The largest share of emissions tied to a company’s business most likely happen somewhere outside that company. For example, extracting the raw materials needed to manufacture a product. Or, home delivery.

Take JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker. Emissions from their offices and slaughterhouses are only 3 percent of their total emissions, while the other 97% are tied to the thousands of farms that supply them with cattle, according to a recent analysis by the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy.

For banks, the difference is even more striking. Emissions from their fossil fuel investments are, on average, 700 times greater than their own.

Another example, emissions tied to supply chains are on average more than 11 times greater than the emissions of a company dependent on those the same supply chains.

Bottom line: Any net-zero company pledge that doesn’t include these emissions directly and indirectly tied to their operations or investments is not credible.

What are companies doing in the political arena to support their corporate agenda

When a company’s emissions balance sheet checks out, is that enough?   Not necessarily. Its impact on our planet’s climate can go well beyond its business, into the complex realm of politics.  It’s not uncommon for companies making bold announcements, while in the background lobbying against climate action impacting their business.

• Last year, a watchdog group called Accountable.US found major corporations that had expressed deep concern over climate change were also backing business groups fighting climate legislation.
• Some of America’s most prominent companies, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Disney are backing business front groups fighting landmark climate legislation, despite their own promises to combat the climate crisis, the Guardian reported last year.

Scientists warned that a failure to curb carbon emissions may result in the extinction of most marine life, an emptying of the ocean last seen 250 million years ago amid a rapidly warming climate.

Accelerating greenhouse gas emissions could “culminate in a mass extinction rivaling those of Earth’s ancient past,” stated a peer-reviewed paper published Thursday in the journal Science. The reports also concluded that rising GHG emissions may cause a catastrophe, limiting temperature rise to 2° Celsius would reduce the risk by more than 70%, according to a study in the journal Science.

The oceans already have absorbed a third of global carbon emissions and 90 percent of the excess heat created by humans.

The vast expanse and forbidding ocean depths have until recently limited scientists to only a fundamental understanding of climate changes now underway impacting the earth’s marine ecosystems.  Science, however, continues to expand the cause and effect understanding of human impacts on the planet and a greater understanding of what these changes represent to the marine creatures which call our oceans home, and also represent a significant food supply for humankind.

Not since an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs has marine life been at such risk of extinction

The world has already warmed more than 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since the preindustrial era, and last year the oceans contained more heat energy than at any point since record-keeping began six decades ago.

In a 2018 Princeton University study found, based on climate models which simulate the nearest example to today’s planetary warming, a future world similar to the late Permian Period of 250 million years ago when volcanic eruptions released huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

They found ocean surface temperatures increased by more than 10° C, triggering a nearly 80% decline in marine oxygen levels. An examination of the fossil record confirmed that oxygen-depleted warming seas killed off up to 96% of marine species.

The Permian Extinction Period — a roadmap of today’s warming oceans

Today, ocean temperatures are rising to record highs, and correspondingly, oxygen levels are falling. “The same mechanism that would be driving species losses from human-induced climate change has been shown to have caused extinction in the geologic past,”  a recent Princeton study determined.

Many species are slowly suffocating as oxygen leaches out of the seas.

Even populations that have managed to withstand the ravages of overfishing, pollution and habitat loss are struggling to survive amid accelerating global heating from climate change.

If humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, roughly a third of all marine animals could vanish…

Using climate models that predict the behavior of species based on simulated organism types, The study further found that the number of  local marine disappearances of particular species, increases about 10 percent with every 1 degree Celsius of warming.

The researchers tested their models by using them to simulate a mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, when catastrophic warming triggered by volcanic eruptions wiped out roughly 90 percent of all life on Earth. Because the models successfully replicated the events of 250 million years ago, the scientists were confident in their predictions for what might happen in the foreseeable future.

The Princeton University research revealed that most animals can’t afford to lose much more than 50 percent of their habitat — beyond that number, a species tips into irreversible decline. In the worst-case emissions scenarios, the losses would be on par with the five worst mass extinctions in Earth’s history.

Cooking creatures literally within their habitat

These rising ocean temperatures are shifting the boundaries of marine creatures’ comfort zones. Many are fleeing northward in search of cooler waters, causing “extirpation” — or local disappearance — of once-common species.

The danger of warming is compounded by the fact that hotter waters start to lose dissolved oxygen — even though higher temperatures speed up the metabolisms of many marine organisms, so that they need more oxygen to live.

The ocean contains just one-sixtieth as much oxygen as the atmosphere, even less in warmer areas where water molecules are less able to keep the precious oxygen from bubbling back into the air. As global temperatures increase, that reservoir declines even further.

The heating of the sea surface also causes the ocean to stratify into distinct layers, making it harder for warmer, oxygenated waters above to mix with the cooler depths.

Deoxygenation poses one of the greatest climate threats to marine life.  Scientists have documented expanding “shadow zones” where oxygen levels are so low that most life can’t survive.

This climate-driven marine die-off is just one piece of a broader biodiversity crisis gripping the entire globe.

A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that warming has contributed to the disappearance of at least 400 species in the world’s oceans.

The scientist found that if global temperatures increase around 4.9° C by the end of the century and continue to rise, it would trigger mass extinction on par with the end of the Permian Period.

Under a low-emissions scenario that keeps temperature rise to 2° C, scientists project that extinction rates would range from about 4% – the natural rate – to 10%.  “That’s still an awful lot of species in absolute numbers,” said Penn, noting that even absent climate change, the researchers estimated that 10% to 15% of species are at risk of extinction from the industrialization of the ocean and other human-caused threats.

Depleting global fish Stocks

“One big potential, and likely, impact will be the loss of ecosystem function in some marine ecosystems, and ecosystem cascading effects, even with only a small proportion of species lost,” said Butt, who studies the consequences of climate change on biodiversity and was not involved in the research.

For instance, the loss of a prey species could lead to declines in predators that regulate the health of marine ecosystems on which humans depend for food.

The paper noted that the regions of the ocean most vulnerable to climate-driven extinction are low-oxygen areas home to some of the world’s most productive fisheries.

“The projected impact of accelerating climate change on marine biota is profound, driving extinction risk higher and marine biological richness lower than has been seen in Earth’s history for the past tens of millions of years,” it concluded.

The Ocean is not a garbage dump or is it?

At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. Marine species ingest or are entangled by plastic debris, which causes severe injuries and death, and people in turn eat the fish contaminated by oceans laden plastics.

An estimated 8 Million tons of plastic enters our oceans every year. There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic waste estimated to be in our oceans. 269,000 tons float, 4 billion microfibers per km² dwell below the surface. 70% of our debris sinks into the ocean’s ecosystem, 15% floats, and 15% lands on our beaches.

Fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic each year, which can cause intestinal injury and death and transfers plastic up the food chain to bigger fish, marine mammals and human seafood eaters.

A separate U.N. panel has found that about 1 million additional species are at risk of extinction as a result of overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution and other human disruption of the natural world.

In an analysis for the publication Science that accompanied Princeton report, Rutgers ecologist Alexa Fredston compared marine animals to canaries in a coal mine, alerting humanity to invisible forces — such as dangerous carbon dioxide accumulation and ocean oxygen loss — that also threaten our ability to survive.

Fredston summed things this way, “If people can take action to preserve ocean wildlife, we will wind up saving ourselves.”