Carbon Wash

Monitoring climate change and being aware of the consequences is defintely not a bad thing but when most people only have the capacity to glom onto one environmental issue at a time (remember recycling in the 90s?), it becomes a problem. Climate change and carbon emissions have become the poster children for all issues environmental. However, there are other issues that will affect us all that are far more important. Unfortunately, while everyone is hypnotized by the distracting hand of carbon, the other hand of water--the only compound required by ALL living creatures from protozoa to blue whales--is being destroyed piece-meal. It's being polluted, privatized, depleted, usurped, damned...

Carbon won't kill us. Technically, neither will warmer temperatures. Long before the majority of us succumb to the direct consequences of climate change (sea level rise, more severe weather, etc), we will die from lack of fresh water, lack of food. We'll have contaminated and over-fished the oceans to the point where they no longer bear life. There are now more than 400 dead zones in the world's oceans and the number has been doubling each decade since the 60s. Climate change certainly doesn't help these issues, in fact, it exacerbates them, but there are things far worse than carbon to worry about.

Here are a couple of short videos about changes in the ocean from one of my favourite sites: Shifting Baselines

Emptied Oceans:


Shifting Baselines in the Sound:


If you are wondering what these ocean videos have to do with loss of fresh water, all water is part of a flowing cycle and thus, all polluted. These videos fit. :)