10 ways to support oceans & reduce emissions

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) states that greenhouse gas emissions cause changes in water temperature, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, leading to changes in oceanic circulation and chemistry, rising sea levels, and increased storm intensity, as well as changes in the diversity and abundance of marine species.

Degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems threatens the physical, economic and food security of local communities.

Climate change weakens the ability of the ocean and coasts to provide critical ecosystem services such as food, carbon storage, oxygen generation, and nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation.

A low carbon emissions trajectory is indispensable to preserve the health of the ocean. Here are 10 ways you can help to stop the warming of the Planet and help restore the health of our oceans. We need to reduce our personal and our global greenhouse gas footprints.

1. Get involved with as many community & professional groups on ocean management and reducing all greenhouse gases (GHGs), as possible. Some of these are: Ocean Conservancy, 350.org, School Strikes 4 Climate, and Greenpeace and organisations in your country, such as the Conservation Council in Western Australia, and the Australian Parents for Climate Action. Subscribe to their email newsletters and read them every day. Follow them on Facebook.

2. Get informed and share facts and actions every day, with friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, people you meet, and family. For example, REenergise ranks major Australian businesses on a scale of green energy usage and emissions reductions. Check facts and actions with trusted colleagues, friends and sources, if you want cross-references or assistance.

Whenever I can get the opportunity I will start up a conversation about the need to reduce GHGs. For example, one day at a check-up appointment, my dentist asked me how I was, and I told him that a lot of my time was taken up with supporting the goals of 350 Australia......and why! (The answer is that 350 means 350 parts per million or ppm, the number that our greenhouse gas emissions MUST rapidly drop below.)

EDUCATE your children also.

3. Maintain a positive, respectful and confident attitude always, as you take REAL ACTION EVERY DAY toward the goals of reducing greenhouse gases and restoring our oceans and climate.

4. Reduce your use of electricity in the home and at work and in your community every day: turn of lights and electronic devices, sign up with "green energy" providers, go completely solar, get an EV (electric vehicle), ask schools to use solar panels, and campaign for "green buildings".

Walk or bicycle or ride on public transport or car-pool, travel long distances less (as cars, coaches, buses, ships and planes produce a lot of emissions). Ask your government to convert its fleet 100% to electric. Support electric buses and electric cars.

Click here for the best green energy suppliers in the U.K.

Go to this page here for excellent information about how renewable energy is provided in the U.S.A. Scroll down the page and click on the link "DOE Green Power Locator tool" - see screenshot below. On the Locator tool page, you can also search for companies that use Green e-certified renewable energy.

Click here to search for an accredited green energy supplier in Australia. Note: your actual energy may come from mixed sources, and your fees pay for the supplier using a portion of green energy sources (with net zero greenhouse gas emissions) in the National / State electricity grid.

If you have to pay for your electricity, why not support a greater use of green energy?

Not all Australian States are serviced by green power at the time of writing this. You can try the official Australian GreenPower website also, to find a green energy provider.

5. Sign up for a voluntary or paid position as an ambassador for the ocean or to help reduce carbon dioxide and methane (greenhouse gases). Possible roles are social media coordinator, newsletter editor, fund-raiser, organiser, trainer, secretary, treasurer, media liaison officer and event coordinator.

6. Get creative every day. Choose one to three big areas to focus upon and educate others about the need to reduce our carbon footprint.

For example, support the Ocean Conservancy's "All Aboard" strategy to eliminate all emissions from the shipping industry in the U.S.A. Support 350 Australia's campaign to hold fossil fuel companies and supporters of them, to account for their emissions.

Create posters for rallies or for videos of yourself presenting and speaking your truth. Draw designs for social media banners or for Instagram or Pinterest images with links to information. Design and order large magnet-backed badges with "Greenhouse Gas Damages Oceans" or similar. Wear a badge and use it as a talking point.

Design your own Facebook banner with a web-address to Ocean Conservancy or another organisation working to restore the climate. Edit your Facebook header image and type in "Help restore the oceans" or "Help reduce greenhouse gases" and add a link to a relevant website.

Leave leaflets or post-cards made from recycled paper, which have information about climate change and how to reduce emissions, around public places. Ask local stores if you can put up Posters promoting climate action rallies and activities. Put up posters wherever you can at University or workplaces or schools, about reducing greenhouse gases.

7. BE ORGANISED EVERY DAY - this is super important. Be methodical with your research and with what you do. Be organised mentally and physically, for example, turn off lights as you leave rooms, create a Folder on your computer titled ENVIRONMENT and create sub-folders under it, for OCEANS, NEWS, CAMPAIGNS, FOSSIL FUELS, RENEWABLE ENERGY PLANS, WEBINARS, etc.

Using the Chrome browser you can right-click, then click on Print to save a web-page as a PDF document to your computer, to save the information.

Join a WhatsApp or a Slack fast-action climate action group so that you can hop onto social media for a blitz on commenting on a post by a fossil fuel group, or a post of any initiative which harms the oceans or climate, when the opportunity is ripe.

8. Every day look out for government activity where you can have your say. Schedule time to draft and submit your submissions to endeavours like Australia's recent NGIP - National Gas Infrastructure Project.

Fossil gas is methane. It releases more potent greenhouse gas at its point of origin, than does carbon dioxide. Renewable energy is plentiful and cheaper to produce and use in the long-term, as well as is not harmful to the environment. Help reduce your personal footprint through reducing the global footprint.

9. Write or compose letters to leaders and members of Parliament and to big businesses and to newspapers and other media outlets about the challenges and the solutions to climate change, to put local infrastructure and systems in place to reduce the carbon footprint.

10. Start your own blog or website or social media page about the urgent need to change our mind-sets globally, and to change our systems in order to use existing and new technology with collaborative long-term plans, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast.

And ....... lead by example ---> get training on climate activism to reach more people, or join your local 350 group or another Group for climate action, and take on a lead role. You will find a lot of ongoing support and ways to reduce our carbon footprints.

According to the IUCN there are 3 major approaches to restoring the oceans, and this is necessary to halt undesirable impacts upon human beings

(1) Policies to prevent the conversion of marine ecosystems to other land uses, for example regulating coastal development, can ensure their protection.

(2) Support for scientific research will ensure the continued monitoring and analyses of the impacts of climate change. The knowledge gained is used to design and implement adequate and appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

(3) Globally ambitious efforts are needed to reduce the use of fossil fuels, increase the use of renewable energy systems and enhance energy efficiency. This will reduce the impacts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHGs on the ocean.

Please support the harnessing of existing opportunities. For example, push your government to conserve coastal carbon ecosystems under the REDD+ mechanism, which involves reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Learn about and hold your government to account for implementing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

Since 2015 I have been greatly involved with all 10 steps above, including being a vital member of my local 350 group, 350 Borloo Perth.

Fossil fuels, including fossil gas, are a major source of emissions, and reducing the footprint of this industry is the target of the 350 organisation.

Currently, BHP and Woodside propose the most polluting project in Western Australia, the Burrup Hub Project.

If it goes ahead, it will affect the ocean as well as make serious action on climate change impossible. You can help reduce your part of the global carbon foot-print by campaigning for the urgent need to reduce GHGs.

There is no time like the present to think about climate change and its effects upon YOU, and to take ACTION every day, to restore the balance. Save our Earth means SAVE YOU and SAVE US, of course, because we are dependent upon our Planet.

Don't leave it to someone else. Help un-cover the truths and hold the newspapers and media to account for putting out the facts and not white-washing us.

Choose not to let the goal of restorative climate action overwhelm you. Small actions help. We must also reduce our global carbon footprint. Everyday reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as your discoveries or knowledge of how to reduce GHGs globally, will help you to lead our governments to the necessary frameworks and timelines and plans.

My article aims to give a complete "Starter's" overview of the very many things that ANYONE can do, with links to "Explainers", to reduce one's carbon footprint and to reduce one's contribution to global greenhouse emissions, through supporting collective change.

Stand your ground, eco-warrior. Celebrate and share your achievements, and call out those, who have power, and who ignore climate change; for their platitudes, selective comments, opinions, and in-action.

Be aware that the climate movement is:

NOT pushing for a one-size fits all.

It is about a combination of measures, including individual measures, mindful living, a carbon fee and dividend and government and business commitment to renewable energy plans, with a just transition for fossil fuel workers.

NOT made up of hippies and high-school drop-outs.

NOT hiding a secret, selfish agenda.

NOT one-sided and ignorant.

NOT against manufacturing or looking after the economy.

NOT hell-bent on panicking and scare-mongering others.

It's time that our governments at all levels abide by the crystal clear science about global warming and its snowballing effects upon our oceans and land masses, and upon human beings and the resources we are dependent upon.

TIME WAITS FOR NO PERSON

Take a step in the direction of reducing personal and global greenhouse emissions, and never look back. Be steadfast on your path, and have hope and courage and positivity. A tidal wave of public pressure and will is coming-----now, and every day everyone needs to be a part of it.

Be a part of history...make waves.