Sarah Chasis's Blog: Solving Global Warming

Discovery Planet Green presents NRDC’s ACID TEST Aug. 12

2009-08-07T18:19:39Z

One of the most pernicious, but least known impacts of the build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere is ocean acidification. The ocean, which has absorbed about one quarter of the CO2 that's been emitted into the atmosphere, has become approximately 30 percent more acidic than it was during the pre-industrial era.

If business as usual continues with CO2 emissions, scientists predict that the ocean will become more acidic by the end of this century than it has ever been in the last 20 million years, with devastating impacts to corals, shellfish we love to eat like mussels, clams and lobsters, and to small creatures like pteropods (aka sea angels) that help form the base of the marine food chain.

NRDC explores the phenomenon of ocean acidification in ACID TEST, our new, groundbreaking documentary narrated by Sigourney Weaver. The film will premiere on Discovery's Planet Green on Wednesday, August 12th at 10:30 p.m. Eastern and re-airs throughout the month. Please tune in! For local show times and more information go to: http://www.nrdc.org/acidtest.

ACID TEST tells this story of "the other carbon problem" with beautiful ocean shots, and scientists on the frontlines of this issue - including NRDC's own Senior Ocean Scientist Lisa Suatoni. NRDC's Daniel Hinerfeld co-directs. The out-take below gives you a peek at what to expect from the full documentary later this month!

TAKE ACTION:

Pass a Strong Climate Bill: Fight the pollution that causes ocean acidification and global warming - urge your senators to support strong climate and energy legislation.
Pass a National Healthy Oceans Act: Tell your Representatives to support a Healthy Oceans Act, like a Clean Air Act for our air or a Clean Water Act for our water.

Next step for Salazar's offshore renewable energy plan: NOAA

2009-03-12T17:43:35Z

"We are in the renewable energy business." - Interior Secretary Salazar, 3/11/09

It was more good news from the Obama Administration yesterday when Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announced the agency is forming an energy and climate change task force to advance clean energy in America. This means solar and wind on land, as well as offshore renewable energy resources in our oceans.

The announcement includes steps to protect ecological treasures on land as part of the process for advancing renewable energy. It does this by involving the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the planning process. However, the same safeguard is not in place for sensitive ocean habitats.

There is a simple fix: Secretary Salazar should reach out to involve NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the lead ocean agency, in deciding where and how to site offshore renewable energy. Involving NOAA from the start in deciding where to develop offshore renewables will help increase production of the clean energy we need in a manner that protects the marine environment. NOAA has the expertise and information needed to make sure we are implementing offshore power in the most environmentally sensitive way.

NOAA can help do offshore renewables right by designating "red" and "green" zones for development. "Green zones" would identify areas where offshore renewable power could move forward because the conditions are right to produce large amounts of energy without hurting sensitive areas in the sea. And "red zones" would indicate areas off-limits to development because they are too ecologically important. By identifying these green and red zones, we protect special ocean places and also help facilitate the deployment of offshore renewable technologies, by providing industry with increased certainty.

So - Secretary Salazar is on the right track, but he needs to involve NOAA, the ocean agency, to ensure that offshore power is developed in a way that protects ocean resources. By doing this, we can maximize the clean energy we get out of our oceans and minimize its impacts.

Offshore drilling announcement is promising, but still raises yellow flags

2009-02-11T14:49:36Z

I was reminded yesterday that there's a new administration in Washington. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made some positive announcements about the future of offshore drilling in America - though it's important to note we aren't out of the woods just yet.

Secretary Salazar announced he is going to thoroughly review the new five-year OCS oil and gas leasing plan that the Bush administration initiated development of in its last business day in office. These midnight regulations proposed opening up areas along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts that had been protected from drilling for decades.

Salazar's announcement indicates a stronger commitment to sound science, public input and America's clean energy future than we have seen in the past eight years. And he hit on a couple of themes NRDC has been fighting for when it comes to oil and gas drilling in the OCS:

We need better scientific data and understanding when it comes to the resources available in the OCS and the impacts of accessing them.
The public must have a greater say in what we do in the OCS.
We need a regulatory framework for developing offshore renewable energy - such as wind, tidal and wave power - so we can incorporate their significant potential in the nation's offshore energy strategy while protecting the ocean environment. As Secretary Salazar said: "The Bush Administration was so intent on opening new areas for oil and gas offshore that it torpedoed offshore renewable energy efforts."

However, yesterday's announcement does not stop drilling in the OCS.

There are still leases that will go forward in Alaska and Virginia and we could still see drilling there. As Secretary Salazar moves through his review process, he should put all offshore drilling on hold in Alaska and Virginia - as he did in the areas along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts that Bush opened up in the midnight reg - so that these parts of the country get the same careful reviews, precautions and protections as Salazar says he will provide the other areas.

And while the shift toward offshore renewable energy bodes well for the direction the new administration is headed, it will also be important moving forward to involve agencies that deal with our oceans' living resources (like NOAA - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to make sure that any plans for offshore renewable, oil and gas projects are done in a way that minimizes their impact on our oceans.

Offshore oil and gas drilling could cause permanent damage to our beaches and coastal economies - threatening serious impacts to our $32 billion commercial fishing and $60 billion tourism and recreation industries. Tourism alone supports more than 3.5 million jobs in the coastal U.S. states - and the number of jobs in states with new drilling would pale in comparison to those that rely on oil-free beaches. Not to mention, new drilling risks oil spills from Florida to Maine, and all along the Pacific Coast. This could not only cause tremendous damage to fishing and tourism industries, but destroys habitat for plants and animals, and hurts all of us who live, work and vacation in these places. We all remember the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez spill. If that occurred on the East Coast, it would have extended from Massachusetts to North Carolina. No one wants that.

There will be more action on OCS today as the House Natural Resources Committee kicks off a series of hearings on the impacts of offshore drilling - with testimony from the likes of ocean advocates Phillipe Cousteau and Ted Danson - as we continue the conversation about the future of energy development off our coasts.

We won't know the full impact of Secretary Salazar's announcement until the scientific and environmental reviews he is calling for are given the chance to play out. But we hope the outcome is a greater - and environmentally responsible - investment in developing offshore renewable energy, and an end to oil and gas drilling offshore.