Are We Ignoring the Best Climate Solution We Already Have?

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We may already know how to store
carbon, so why aren't we using it?

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Why aren't we using these methods?

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That's what we're gonna talk
about on this episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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Because if you are here to find out
more about the ocean and use this podcast

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as a resource to help you make better
decisions in your daily life for the

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ocean, you've come to the right place.

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If you do not wanna miss tomorrow's
episode, we publish five days a

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week, Monday to Friday, you should
hit that follow button right now on

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your favorite podcast app because
we are coming with the heat today.

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We are gonna be talking about the
blue economy, and we are gonna

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be talking about something that
we've been doing for a while.

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And the question really is: Are we
ignoring one of the most effective

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climate solutions we already have?

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Think about that.

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Like, we always talk... I remember
here in Canada, Justin Trudeau

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comes out with a great plan.

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I'm not a hater of Justin Trudeau.

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I don't love everything he did as
a prime minister being a Canadian

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citizen, but I did like a lot of
the environmental stuff that he did.

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And at one time, he came out and
he said, "We're gonna plant a

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billion trees." And that was great.

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It was great to hear that more
trees are gonna be planted.

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It's a great program.

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But is that really the right solution?

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Are we really putting the right amount
of money into planting these trees?

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Yes, we have to plant trees.

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We should always be planting
trees, especially up here in

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Canada where we harvest trees.

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We always need to have
some kind of recoup.

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We always need to have some kind of plan.

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We have this massive land mass
that was once dominated by forests

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of all different types of species.

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Now it's being depleted, not only
because we've been harvesting a lot of

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it, but also because of forest fires,
disease and everything like that.

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But tree planting is not the
best solution that we have.

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The best solution is actually
below the ocean surface in the

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aquatic plants that are in there.

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And that's where the real blue economy is
and something that we've been ignoring.

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So a recent report that was highlighted
on phys.org focused on something

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called blue carbon, and we've
talked about blue carbon before.

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We've talked about how it
includes ecosystems like mangroves,

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seagrasses, and salt marshes.

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These environments capture and
store carbon and sediments many

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more times than an average tree
would do in a forest on land.

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That is the key.

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Often they are more efficient at
storing this carbon than forests.

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And I think we get this to the situation
where we know more about trees and

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we know less about these seagrasses,
these mangroves, these salt marshes,

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kelp forests and so forth because
they're above the surface of the ocean.

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We haven't studied these
forests in a long time.

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And to be honest, like, when
you put something down below

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the ocean, it just gets ignored.

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There's this famous meme that we've
seen or a cartoon that we've seen

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where you have these two guys,
these two cartoon characters that

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are stranded on a desert island.

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It's this tiny, tiny island in the
middle of the ocean, and they're

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staring out, and the one comments,
"Man, I wish there was something to

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eat out here." They're on this tiny,
like, little, little, tiny island where

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you can see all around and everything.

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And they look out into the ocean
surface, and they see nothing.

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But below the ocean are all the
animals that they can use to

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feed on and all that kinda stuff.

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And they just ignore it because all
they can see is just flat surface of

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ocean, as far as the eye can see.

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And that happens a lot, I feel like.

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We just are not connected to the
ocean as much because a lot of us are

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still afraid of going in the ocean.

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They're afraid of sharks.

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They're afraid of the unknown.

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People don't wanna put their feet in
aquatic plants or any kind of a macroalgae

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because it feels funny, and they're
just not used to it, and that's fine.

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If you're a little scared
of the ocean, that's okay.

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That's understandable.

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But it doesn't mean we don't have
to know much more or we just kind

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of ignore what's been going on in
the ocean or ignore the benefits

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that the ocean can provide.

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And a lot of times, because of these
areas, these habitats like mangroves,

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seagrass, and salt marshes are along the
coastline, we have altered a lot of that

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coastline to match our own benefits, our
own human benefits, and we don't do it

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where we are looking at, "Hey, how does
this system actually play a role in our

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ecosystem to actually help us breathe?"

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Just to breathe.

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And that's the problem.

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Here's the problem, like, only 20%
of countries are including these

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ecosystems in their climate strategies.

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We're not even including in the
climate strategies, let alone

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we're just ignoring it altogether.

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We're not including these climate
strategies even though they store more

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carbon in sediments or down below the
ocean than any other system on land.

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So imagine that.

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And you gotta remember, the ocean is
what gives us every second breath, so

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we should be focusing more on the ocean,
especially when it comes to climate.

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If only 20% of the countries are including
these ecosystems in their climate

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strategies, that means most climate
plans are missing a major opportunity.

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And it goes even as far as the
climate weeks that we hear, Climate

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Week Toronto, Climate Week New York.

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They have, like, one panel on
the oceans or a couple of panels.

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So a whole full week, like, five days,
seven days, however long it goes on.

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I've never been to one,
but I've heard them go on.

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I don't go because there's no
ocean stuff being talked about it.

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It's a huge complaint of mine.

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It's like, how do we have all these
people who are coming together with

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a lot of money and a lot of savvy
and, like, entrepreneurs, everything,

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and they don't know that the climate
is oceans, oceans is climate?

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If we wanna stop climate change,
we have to focus on the ocean.

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The ocean already absorbs a huge
portion of the carbon that we emit.

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This is why I say that every second
breath we take is because of the ocean.

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All this plankton, which is abundant in
every ocean, are basically plant cells.

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These plant cells will absorb the sun
for energy and absorb the carbon dioxide

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that is in the atmosphere, bring it into
their cells, so they can emit oxygen.

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That's what they do.

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Photosynthesis, absorb carbon
and sunlight, produce oxygen.

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That's what they do.

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So when you have that many, that much
plankton in the ocean, you're gonna get

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this huge system that absorbs carbon
dioxide and actually returns oxygen.

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And these coastal systems that we're
talking about today are some of the most

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powerful carbon sinks on the planet.

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We need to reduce greenhouse
gases, which is carbon dioxide.

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These systems can help, not only
plankton, but the systems like

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seagrasses, mangroves, kelp forests, salt
marshes, all these different things.

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And if I forget any, I'm not doing
it on purpose or anybody who's

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gonna email me because of that.

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But the thing is too is, like,
they're fragile ecosystems.

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When they are destroyed, they
don't just stop storing carbon.

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They release it.

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So it's like when you have a forest fire.

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When you have a forest fire, you get
more carbon dioxide released because

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of all that storage of carbon dioxide.

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So not only the tree is going and all
the stuff that comes off the tree, but

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you're also getting all that stuff in
the soil that is burning as well and

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all that carbon dioxide going out.

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So when you destroy a seagrass
or you destroy a mangrove,

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you're gonna get the same thing.

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Everything that's stored in
there kinda gets released.

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So keeping them intact, healthy is
something that's really important 'cause

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they're both a risk and a solution.

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And so this is not just
a discovery problem.

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We've known this for a long time.

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It's an implementation problem.

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You've probably heard me say this
a number of times if you've been

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listening to the podcast for any
number of days, or weeks or months.

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And so I think it's really important
to look at how we can not only

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protect the systems that are intact,
but scale up the systems of not just

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protecting, but also restoring.

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Because we need to protect what exists,
we need to scale that up, but we also

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need to restore what's been lost and
include these systems in our climate

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policy because it's gonna help us.

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It's gonna make changing the
climate back a lot easier when we

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include it into this climate policy.

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And it's just a matter of
countries actually understanding,

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like taking inventory of how
many seagrass systems they have.

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'Cause seagrasses are
temperate as well as tropical.

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You see seagrasses everywhere.

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Mangroves are tropical.

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You see them a lot of places.

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A lot of these systems actually
perform more than just carbon sinks.

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They actually perform a lot of
security functions for the coastline.

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I've talked about this before, but when
tsunamis or big wave actions happen,

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they actually reduce the energy of that
wave as it goes across, as it reaches

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land, it actually dissipates that.

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Areas in the 2004 tsunami in the Indian
Ocean where it killed a lot of people

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in areas where it didn't kill a lot or
didn't have much of an effect at all

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were areas that had mangroves, coral
reefs, seagrasses all intact because

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those systems ended up dissipating
the wave energy as it went across,

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and a lot more people survived.

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So, we need to make sure that
these are included in this policy

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for a number of different reasons.

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But when you start including these
natural barriers, that will provide

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safety and that'll provide stability
in our environment and our atmosphere.

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We know that the science is already there.

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The gap is really like funding and action.

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That's really where it comes down to.

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So when you go to a climate week or
you go to any kind of climate action

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function, look for where the ocean
is, like where the ocean people are.

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Are they bringing things to the table?

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Are they even there?

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Why aren't they there?

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And if you're somebody in ocean,
you should be going to these weeks.

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You should be going to Climate Week
New York, Climate Week Toronto.

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You should be going all over the place
where there's a COP And you should be

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bombarding them with ways to take action.

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Start businesses, start funding these
places, these actions because that's

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something that we're gonna need.

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And get our politicians on track to
be like, "Hey, stop destroying the

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environment and the ocean and start
protecting it because it's gonna be

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a lot easier to do the things that
we want down the road than not to."

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So we're not short on climate solutions.

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We're just ignoring the
ones that we already have.

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That's the thing.

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We're just short on using them.

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So I wish that we could start
really thinking about how we

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can do it better in the future.

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And that's what I really want you
guys to do when we look forward.

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I would love to hear your
comments, your feedback on this.

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You can hit me up on my socials, DM me.

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All the links are in the show
notes, so you can check that out.

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I'd love to continue the conversation with
you, ' cause that's why I started this

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podcast, was to start the conversation.

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You continue it.

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Send me feedback.

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Go to speakupforblue.com/feedback.

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You can leave a voicemail.

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You can type something in,
whatever you'd like to do.

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I would love to hear from you, or hit me
up on my socials, whichever is easiest.

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Let's have a conversation on the ocean.

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Let's have some fun.

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Let's talk about something
that we can do to really help.

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Your solutions are just as good as mine.

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There's no judgment.

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Love to hear from you.

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But until then, thank you so much
for joining me on today's episode of

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the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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Have a great night.

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We'll see you tomorrow,
and happy conservation.