Governments talk of green jobs, green industrial revolutions and creating green new deals. The aim of these efforts is to tackle runaway climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality by remoulding our political and economic systems. But where is the blue in all of this? As Chris Armstrong writes, there can be no green transformation without a blue one alongside it.
For most of us, ocean ecosystems are out of sight, out of mind. We refer to tropical rainforests as the “lungs of the Earth” but tiny organisms called phytoplankton release 70% of the planet’s oxygen – much more than trees. In total, the oceans store 50 times more carbon than our atmosphere. The Gulf Stream alone transports 550tn calories of heat across the North Atlantic every second. Without this, the tropics would be unbearably hot and more temperate regions extremely cold. It helps make Earth the Goldilocks planet, perfect for life to thrive.
