THE WORLD'S DYING OCEANS

By H. N. Burdett

Amid the political ping-pong between a dysfunctional Congress and the desperate Obama administration over the August 2 debt limit deadline, the New York Times, in its wisdom, recently relegated to the penultimate of four editorials a new report that the world's oceans are "approaching irreversible, potentially catastrophic change."

That the moment of truth draws ever closer when "a self-inflicted wound," as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke termed it, could trigger economic chaos is undeniably a grave concern.

Underlying the current stalemate over how to best remedy the nation's deficit woes, however, is a struggle between the two major U.S. political parties to extract at the eleventh hour a bunny from a fedora, each intent upon not only declaring itself the savior but also portraying the other as the villain of the tragicomedy.

As serious as the debt crisis may be, it is nowhere close to rivaling in severity the portentous consequences of the acceleration of ocean degradation resulting in mass extinctions.

The findings of experts from the International Program on the State of the Oceans and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature reveal that the world's oceans have warmed and become more acidic as they absorb human-generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Agriculture runoff and other anthropogenic causes have further increased the deprivation of the ocean's oxygen.

"The oceans' natural resilience has been seriously compromised," the Times editorial warns. "Pollution, habitat loss and overfishing are dangerous threats on their own. But when these factors converge, they can destroy marine ecosystems."

The naysayers can be counted upon to vigorously argue that the authors of the study are nothing more than a thundering horde of Cassandras making much ado over very little, shrug off the report and hire their own "independent" scientists to furnish contrary data.

Meanwhile, the list of marine life either vulnerable to extinction, endangered or critically endangered grows. They now include seven commercially important species, among them mackerel, marlin and three species of tuna.

Reversal of the ominous conditions underscored in the report requires immediate reduction in carbon dioxide systems, establishment of a system of marine conservation areas and protection of ocean life that extends beyond national jurisdictions.

Conventional wisdom is virtually always slow to accept negative environmental findings as factual -- a reaction spurred by industrial polluters willing to debunk any and all evidence that might cut into their profit margins.

A concerted effort by the international community is necessary to head off destruction of marine ecosystems by reining in carbon emissions, thereby stabilizing the health of the world's oceans and preventing further significant changes therein that could further accelerate climate change.

With global markets wobbling on their shaky foundations and a U.S. national election 16 months away, the ramifications of future devastating weather systems and the kind of world the next generation will inherit somehow evades our attention much less our concern.