When it comes to addressing climate change, the Earth's oceans need to have a larger role in our efforts to combat the crisis, according to Phillippe and Ashlan Cousteau, co-authors of Oceans for Dummies, and the sea is in fact "central" to the discussion.
"When you think about our planet, 71 percent is ocean, so right there we have a lot of space to cover. And really, our ocean has done us a huge service by actually absorbing about a third of the carbon emissions that we have put into our atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels," Ashlan Cousteau said.
She explained that while the ocean acts as one of our first lines of defense, it has become overwhelmed, the waters have become acidic, and as a result, crucial resources at the bottom of the food chain have been significantly impacted.
The couple also agreed that one of the biggest misconceptions about the ocean is that it's "too big to fail" but in reality, it is already failing. One of the biggest indicators that the oceans are in dire need of restoration is the fact that they are warming.
"In some cases, we talk about climate 'weirding' or certainly climate change, it's because of the function of the ocean and how it moves heat around the planet. As it's warming, that is being impeded and thus our entire planet is changing with disastrous consequences," noted Phillippe, the grandson of legendary undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.
Furthermore, not only are humans distorting the physical makeup of the ocean, we are also depleting food resources through excessive fishing, said the duo.
The couple heads up the nonprofit organization EarthEcho International where the mission is to empower global youth populations and educate them so they can set out to "restore and protect the ocean and planet."
"Fundamentally, what it's about is recognizing the next generation is optimistic and determined, and we can't build an effective global environmental movement and grow that movement without targeting education and youth empowerment," Phillippe said.
As President Joe Biden hosts world leaders in a virtual climate summit to establish goals to keep warming at bay, the Cousteaus are hoping the role oceans play in the fight against climate change gets prioritized.
"I think that a lot of times the ocean has been left out of our planet conversation, out of our save the planet, and out of the climate crisis," Ashlan said. "So, we really do hope that people are coming around, and we think that they are. Literally, there is a wave of people that see the ocean now as one of our best ways to save us."
With the baby formula in the United States surging to an out-of-stock rate of 70 percent, the FDA has given Abbott permission to reopen its Michigan plant amid the crisis and authorized foreign imports. Professor Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner and current president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ongoing shortage and its wide impact. “As difficult as things is in urban areas, they’re even worse in small communities and tribal areas where parents can't just go to the next store on the corner," he said. Pitts also noted that the Abbott factory was a "disaster" prior to its shutdown and that it would have been "regulatory malpractice" to have left it open.
Cheddar's Megan Pratz reports from the ground in Uvalde, Texas where the community's grief and frustration with lawmakers and police officers grows as more details emerge.
Catching you up on what you need to know on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, EU leaders agree to ban 90% of Russian oil by year-end, funerals begin in Uvalde, Texas one week after a mass shooting killed 19 children and two adults, and President Biden meets with the world's biggest boy band BTS.
The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street.
An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve rose 6.3% in April from a year earlier, just below a four-decade high set in March and the first slowdown since November 2020.
The pain and grief from this week’s shooting in a 4th grade classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is still with us. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier ends the week by pausing to remember some of the faces of the 19 children killed and their teachers.
Cheddar New’s reporter Megan Pratz reports from the scene in Uvalde, Texas, with additional details that indicate the shooter was inside Robb Elementary School for more than an hour before law enforcement was able to confront and kill him.
U.S. stocks ended near session highs to close Thursday's session after retailers released positive earnings results. Investors also continued to weigh the federal reserve's recent indication that the central will raise rates in an effort to curb inflation. Adam Johnson, Portfolio Manager for Adviser Investments, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
