Living Waters: Emphasising the need to protect life's breath on this planet
Living Waters: Emphasising the need to protect life's breath on this planet
A virus has caused us to scramble for oxygen but our chokehold on the environment is slowly strangling the very waters that breathe life into us. The virus is a timely reminder: We are merely consumers, not producers of life's breath on this planet
Scores of dead fish surface on the banks of the Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil As the planet’s polluted atmosphere traps more heat, the oceans get warmer. Last year saw new highs of ocean temperature in the top 700 m and 2,000 m of water. Fish species known to hunt at depths are repeatedly floating to surface view today. The reason: Warm temperatures have knocked oxygen out of waters at great depths, making it difficult for the predators to breathe—let alone hunt—in deep waters. Insufficient oxygen in water reduces growth, increases disease, alters migratory behaviour and increases mortality of marine animals.