Opinion: Want to save the oceans from climate change? Support this bill now.

Bruner is a volunteer with the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter who focuses on climate change as it relates to the ocean. He lives in Cardiff.

After years spent at a local break, every surfer develops an internal dataset. If we even think about suiting up, we check the daily water temperature, tide, swell size, period and wind direction. Sometimes we question the grumpy old locals’ dataset when they claim their break “used to be way better,” but perhaps a margin of error for nostalgia needs to be factored in. What we do know for certain, however, is that the ocean and our local beaches are changing, and fast. Faster than ever before, in fact. We know this not only because our experience in the water tells us so, but because we do have real data to show us that what we are feeling and seeing is unfortunately part of a global trend.

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Surfers are in the ocean every day, and we are often the first to “feel” ocean changes related to larger trends that have been identified by robust climate research. Changing ocean temperatures have also been impossible not to notice, with mean sea surface temperatures in the region having risen 1.24 Celsius since 1916. More than 80% of California’s waves are now expected to disappear by 2050. Scientists predict that by the end of the century, we could see up to 10 feet of sea level rise that not only impact recreation but also millions of people living in coastal communities.

The ocean is both the victim of and a solution to the climate crisis. The ocean absorbs over 90% of the heat and about a third of the carbon dioxide that we have created, which is of course mitigating some impacts of climate change. The consequences of this for the ocean, however, come in the form of increasing water temperature, rising sea levels, increased acidity, and an increase in the severity of extreme weather events like hurricanes.

A hotter, higher ocean is of course the result of climate change from society’s addiction to burning fossil fuels. Ending our dependence on fossil fuels and building in resilience to the climate impacts that are already locked in (like some amount of sea level rise) are both critical to solving the climate crisis.

The Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2021 now before Congress gives us a good place to start. It’s a piece of legislation that immediately stops new oil and gas exploration in multiple regions including part of the Pacific, and scales up renewable options like offshore wind energy. It also draws carbon out of the atmosphere by promoting the restoration of “blue carbon ecosystems,” or watery areas like marshes and mangroves that are incredibly good at sucking up carbon dioxide.

Southern Californians have recently seen firsthand (again) that offshore oil drilling is an incredibly risky activity. We continue to risk our pristine coastlines to extract a product we should no longer be using in the first place. We must move away from fossil fuels immediately, and the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act would help expedite that transition.

Blue carbon has become an especially important concept in the conservation community because scientists have learned that coastal ecosystems are not only very good at storing carbon, but that it’s much cheaper to try to preserve and restore these systems than to allow them to be sacrificed in the name of other solutions down the road. The pending status of land use in Mission Bay has been especially receptive to the blue carbon conversation because even partially restoring the wetland could allow the region an opportunity to achieve significant carbon sequestration and land restoration goals.

The other important thing the Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act would do is direct money into science and research that could help us identify opportunities to adapt to climate change. Without a scientific approach to the future, we are riding the same wave we always have while ignoring the sudden appearance of sharp rocks and storm clouds.

The Ocean-Based Solutions Act gets us one big step closer to safe shores and climate stabilization. Currently, 39 members of Congress have co-sponsored this bill, but only one who represents San Diego County, Mike Levin. In a county that relies heavily on a healthy ocean both economically and for recreation, we must demand our leaders take action to protect it.