In a not-often-seen move, U.S. Senators have sided with environmentalists and passed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act.

The Act passing is a win-win for everybody: it not only keeps us at the forefront of understanding threats to the ocean and finding new ways to address emerging problems, but also promotes knowledge of how CO2 absorption is affecting ocean ecosystems, protects important coastal and estuarine areas that are under threat, and it improves exploration, research, mapping & observation.

“This wise decision could not have come a moment sooner… These challenges can only be solved if scientists and ocean experts have the information they need to intelligently inform their decisions.” – Laura Burton Capps, Ocean Conservancy Sen. VP

1. The Ocean and Coastal Exploration and NOAA Act will authorize the National Ocean Exploration Program, National Undersea Research Program, and the Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping Program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to increase scientific knowledge for the management, use and preservation of oceanic, coastal and Great Lake resources.
2. The Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act will authorize the establishment of an integrated system of coastal and ocean observations for the nation’s coasts, oceans and Great Lakes.
3. The Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act will authorize a coordinated federal research program on ocean acidification.
4. The Coastal and Estuarine Land Protection Act will authorize funding for a program to protect important coastal and estuarine areas that have significant conservation, recreation, ecological, historical, aesthetic, or watershed protection values, and that are threatened by conversion to other uses.

Also, checkout International Ocean Cleanup

Univ. of Chicago scientists have determined that the ocean is growing more acidic faster than anyone previously thought. They also claim the increased ocean acidity is tied to increased levels of atmospheric CO2, and have published a paper about their research at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This image of Tatoosh Island off Washington state is where the study was conducted. They discovered that the number of mussels and stalked barnacles fell whenever ocean acidity increased. Under those same conditions, populations of smaller, shelled species and non-calcareous algae increased.

“Many sea creatures have shells or skeletons made of calcium carbonate, which the acid can dissolve. Therefore, the increased acidity of the ocean could interfere with many critical ocean processes such as coral reef building or shellfish harvesting.” – Catherine Pfister, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago and a co-author of the study.

For an idea of how desperate our CO2 emission problem is, I included this mock-up image for a wake-up call to our government.