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The Other Problem with Carbon
Consider the humble mussel.
For more than 500 million years, the mussel, along with its filter-feeder cousins, has provided essential support to its aquatic neighbors. By filtering and cycling important nutrients, its hard work is a service to marine ecosystems across the planet. The mussel is also an important seafood protein for marine animals and humans alike (see “moules frites” in France or “choros a la chalaca” in Peru).
Unfortunately for our bivalve buddies, they are struggling to form their shells in this new age of excess carbon. Yes, increasing ocean temperatures from human-induced climate change could send some mussels to a premature (and unseasoned) boil. But the additional impact of excess carbon is the acidification of our oceans. How?
Our oceans absorb more than a quarter of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This is a natural process that is essential to the carbon cycle. In this balance, there’s typically a healthy equilibrium between the absorption of CO2 into the oceans and its byproducts, including the creation of hydrogen ions. But when oceans absorb excess atmospheric carbon dioxide, those hydrogen ions become more abundant. The result? Our oceans are becoming dangerously more acidic compared to the time when humans started burning fossil fuels.
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Ocean acidification poses a challenge to many of the marine organisms that produce shells, such as our humble mussel. Their hard structures are difficult to grow under acidic conditions, threatening their survival. Indeed, California-state scientists have attributed mussel-population declines across the state to ocean acidification. They observed this same disruption in other sea species essential to ecosystem survival, including sea urchins, starfish, and coral. But the consequences of acidification don’t stop there. The scientific literature on negative impacts is piling up, from damaging fish larvae to even warping the acoustic properties of the ocean.
We don’t need a crystal ball to forecast these risks. We’ve actually been here before. Peering into the geological record gives us a sense of what may come. Ocean acidification is at the root of many of the Earth’s great mass extinctions. Scientists now believe that ocean acidification was a key driver of many marine mass extinction events.
Recent research suggests it wasn't the meteor that wiped out ocean life 66 million years ago, but the acidic oceans that followed.
Scientists are still searching for ways to mitigate and even reverse the damage of ocean acidification. Some studies have proposed adding calcium carbonate to our oceans, which would reduce ocean acidity and increase the oceans’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Others have found that increased biodiversity blunts the growth of harmful organisms that thrive in acidic environments.
But the most straightforward way to prevent the acidification of our oceans is to simply stop burning fossil fuels. And so, as you think about climate change, yes, consider the effects of a warmer, more volatile world. But also consider the threat carbon poses to our oceans through acidification. Please do consider the humble mussel.
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Between 2008 and 2015, the various islands making up the U.S. territories received half the total media attention of equivalent-size states (4,936 vs. 10,138 articles).
An uptick in coverage of the territories in 2016 and 2017 was largely driven by the Puerto Rican debt crisis and the devastation of Hurricane María in the Caribbean.
North Korea’s 2017 announcement that Guam would be the target of its nuclear missile program also contributed to increased coverage that year.
In 2018 The New York Times reported heavily on the destruction caused by Typhoon Yutu in the Northern Marianas Islands.
The historic election of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the disparity in coverage between states and territories.
While native residents of the territories are generally U.S. citizens (except in American Samoa where they are U.S. nationals), they do not have the right to vote in general elections. Coverage about COVID-19 levels in different states and counties often excluded the territories.
The Enormous Federal Data Disparity
Federal data collection largely stops short of U.S. territories. Over the next 10 years, the Census Bureau will release approximately 264 key datasets for the 50 states. But for the territories of Guam, the Northern Marianas, American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, the Census Bureau will release only three total datasets over that same period: one decennial count and two economic surveys.
All told, the data collected by the Census Bureau will help direct at least 2.8 trillion dollars annually to 353 federal-assistance programs. While data on the 50 states helps the government direct funding where it’s needed most, a lack of territory data forces officials to operate in the dark.
For its most populous territory, Puerto Rico, federal data collection is a little better. The Census Bureau conducts an annual “Puerto Rican Community Survey” for the region’s 3.2 million residents. But the resulting estimates don’t use the same rigorous control methods as the “American Community Survey.” And data is only available on the county level instead of more specific geographies like zip codes and census tracts.
A Blindfold for Local Officials
Around the turn of the 20th century, the U.S. expanded its colonial influence over seas. Long left to the rule of the U.S. Navy, the nation’s territories were neglected by the government that claimed to rule them. This neglect hampered the development and assessment of the regions’ social programs. In recent years, a lack of federal data has hindered the ability of island territories to respond to disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather.
For example, in 2018, Typhoon Yutu devastated the Northern Mariana’s islands. By 2020, the recovery effort had just gotten underway when the spread of COVID-19 crushed the region’s critical tourism industry. When the federal government asked the region’s department of labor to estimate how many workers lost their jobs during the pandemic, they had no idea.
Speaking to the Honolulu Civil Beat, the head of Northern Mariana’s labor department Vicky Benavente said, “This is one lesson we learned. Data is so critical for justifying our asks to the federal government.”
State governments had ready access to reliable data. They used monthly reports from the Current Population Survey to monitor pandemic-induced rises in unemployment. Working without this data, the Northern Marianas government had to rely on a survey of employers conducted every two years. By 2021, so many businesses had shut their doors that few were left to reply.
About the data
Data on ocean surface pH changes comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via Environmental Policy Administration. pH and CO2 measurements were captured at the Mauna Loa Baseline Observatory in Hawaii and are representative of pH changes across the world. More information can be found in the technical documentation here.
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