You may have missed one of the most definitive-- and sobering -- reports on the escalating impacts of man-made greenhouse gases and global climate change on the health of the oceans.
It slipped under the radar, obscured by coverage of the BP oil blowout that's fouling the Gulf of Mexico and exacting a huge regional toll on marine life.
It barely surfaced over the Fourth of July holiday weekend -- and has been picked up by few in the mainstream media. (Kudos to McClatchy News Service for another job well done!)
The report -- a survey of current knowledge published June 18 in Science magazine-- concludes that man-made greenhouse gases are driving irreversible and dramatic changes to the way the ocean functions at the most basic level, with potentially dire impacts for hundreds of millions of people across the planet.
One of the co-authors, Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg from the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland (Australia) likens the health of the oceans to that of someone who's been smoking two packs of cigarettes a day for years.
Only in this case, it's the lungs and heart of Planet Earth that are at stake.
"Quite plainly, the Earth cannot do without its ocean," said Dr. Hoegh-Guldberg. "This study, however, shows worrying signs of ill health. We are entering a period in which the very ocean services upon which humanity depends are undergoing massive change and in some cases beginning to fail. Further degradation will continue to create enormous challenges and costs for societies worldwide."
His co-author, Dr. John Bruno of the University of North Carolina, is equally blunt.
"What strikes me the most about the recent science coming out on this topic, is the degree to which we are modifying fundamental physical and biological processes by warming the oceans," he wrote for HuffingtonPost.com.
"And the big surprise, at least to me, is how quickly this is all happening. We are actually witnessing these changes before we predict or model them. This isn't theoretical; this is a huge, real-world problem. Moreover, we, not just our children, will be paying the price if we don't get a handle on this problem very soon."
It's no surprise to any of us at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's one reason we opened our Hot Pink Flamingos exhibit this year -- to get visitors talking about climate change and the oceans. Animals in the exhibit, from young sea turtles to penguins and flamingos, are putting a living face on the problem.
Even as we respond to the Gulf disaster, we're also trying to keep the conversation focused on the greater threat posed by climate change.
You can do your part. Stay informed, stay in touch and keep the issue front and center.
There's no time to lose.
Photos courtesy Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, University of Queensland.
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