Washington State is seeing the effects of severe weather as well as degradation of it's fisheries to an increasingly acidic ocean. The Climate Crisis is so important that it does not have to be attached to any other deal to succeed as a campaign issue. I look forward to Governor Inslee's insight and urgent message to the American people.
March 1, 2019
By Dan Merica
The Report (click here)
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (click here) announced Friday that he is running for President, launching a bid in which he intends to make combating climate change the central rationale for his campaign.
Inslee announced the bid in a video made public on Friday. He is slated to hold a news conference in Seattle at a solar panel installer to expand upon his presidential announcement. He will be surrounded by friends, family and business owners who the campaign says have benefited from his climate policies in the state.
"I'm Jay Inslee and I'm running for president because I am the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation's number one priority," the governor says in a more-than-a-minute-long video that highlights his decades-long focus on climate change and compares tackling the issue to President John F. Kennedy's focus on going to the moon.
"We're the first generation to feel the sting of climate change. And we're the last that can do something about it," Inslee adds. "We can do this. Join our movement. This is our moment."...
Washington State has charged a Blue Ribbon Panel to investigate and find remedies for ocean acidification. The dangers are real. The dangers are urgent. The dangers have to be addressed now.
The world’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) (click here) from the atmosphere. As the oceans soak up excess carbon emissions, the chemistry of the seawater changes — both locally and globally. This absorption alters the ocean’s natural acid-base balance. This move toward a lower pH value is called ocean acidification.
Washington is particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification. Washington’s coastal waters experience seasonal upwelling where waters that are naturally low in oxygen and rich in CO2 rise to the surface. Coastal waters also receive excess nitrogen from human activities that can stimulate algae blooms. As these blooms die and sink, bacteria decompose them, depleting oxygen from the surrounding water. The combined effects of upwelling, nitrogen inputs, and low oxygen zones mean that Washington is likely to see increased impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms earlier than other coastal areas....
