A new paper documents that in 2019, the world’s oceans were the hottest ever, much hotter than the average for 1981-2010 and hotter than 2018. The top 5 hottest years were the last 5 years, and the top 10 hottest years were the last 10 years.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00376-020-9283-7.pdf
Why does this matter? The Guardian has reported why this matters to us, even though we live on land. The oceans drive both weather and climate. More heat in the oceans means stronger storms. It means changing rain patterns with floods in some places and droughts in other places. It also means more sea level rise. It leads to loss of sea animals, from plankton to fish that we eat to mammals. All of these things matter to us.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/why-record-ocean-temperatures-matter
But don’t stop there with just the news of the temperature rise: there are things we can do about it. We need to stop burning fossil fuel – conserve energy and increase renewables such as solar and wind power. We need policy change and individual action. Everything we do now will make a difference. And when we stop burning fossil fuels, air pollution will decrease, and we’ll all be much healthier.
