• Forests

California’s Kelp Forests in Climate Peril

• California
• carbon sequestration
• climate change
• kelp
• oceans

Kelp forests are some of California’s most iconic ecosystems and a new satellite study show they’re almost gone. As the Ocean Conservancy explained, kelp forests are the anchor of nearshore ocean wildlife communities, sustaining marine biodiversity by providing shelter, habitat, and even food for an array of fish and invertebrates. They’re also important to coastal […]

• Forests

The Climate-Fighting Power of Kelp

• carbon sequestration
• kelp
• nature based solutions

by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer For all the high-tech solutions proposed to draw carbon out of the atmosphere, the low-tech of the natural world can be just as effective. Planting trees falls into this category. So does farming kelp. As Maine Public Radio reports, Portland-based Running Tide Technologies is growing “massive amounts of seaweed” […]

• Ocean

Shellfish Can’t Stand Climate Crisis

• clams
• fishers
• Gulf of Maine
• kelp
• New England
• ocean
• ocean acidification
• oysters
• scallops

New England’s iconic lobster roll and summer clam bake are at risk: ocean acidification caused by climate change makes it difficult for their outer shells to form. With no action, crustacean shells in the Gulf of Maine will begin to dissolve in the next 40 years, according to a new report looking specifically at the impact of ocean acidification in Massachusetts. 

Why this Matters: For marine life, the impacts of acidification will alter the ocean ecosystem.

• Ocean

Sea star wasting epidemic made worse by warming waters

• kelp
• Pacific Ocean
• sea stars
• urchins

Sea stars are a common sight on the Pacific coast, you don’t even have to be a diver as you can usually find one in a tide pool. But UC Santa Cruz explained that beginning in 2013, a mysterious disease crippled sea star populations up and down the U.S. west coast. Over a matter of months, […]