Coastal Heritage VOLUME 23, NUMBER 1 SUMMER 2008

Climate change and ocean health

Summer 2008 •  CONTENTS

3 CLIMATE CHANGE AND OCEAN HEALTH Warmer, more acidic oceans threaten global fisheries. 5 SOUTH CAROLINA AIMS TO STEM GREENHOUSE-Gas POLLUTION Coastal Heritage is a quarterly publication An advisory committee recommends 52 policy changes to reduce South Carolina’s of the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, a university- greenhouse-gas emissions. based network supporting research, education, and outreach to conserve coastal resources and 9 enhance economic opportunity for the people THE MOST THREATENED MARINE ECOSYSTEMS of South Carolina. Comments regarding this or future issues of Coastal Heritage are welcomed The fragile four. at [email protected]. Subscriptions 10 are free upon request by contacting: S.C. Sea Grant Consortium WHAT YOU CAN DO 287 Meeting Street Seven ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Charleston, S.C. 29401 phone: (843) 953-2078 12 e-mail: [email protected] CLEANER- BURNING COAL A NECESSITY Executive Director Scientists urge governments to speed up research on methods M. Richard DeVoe of capturing and storing carbon. Director of Communications Susan Ferris Hill 14 Editor NEWS AND NOTES John H. Tibbetts • Consortium’s 2004–2006 report published • Ecosystems publications now available Art Director • Rip currents awareness program gears up in S.C. Carl Turner • Regulatory Pathfinder navigates coastal development laws  • Coastal Heritage wins awards Board of Directors 16 The Consortium’s Board of Directors is composed of the chief executive officers Ebbs and Flows of its member institutions: • 20th Annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep • 2008 South Carolina Water Resources Conference Dr. Andrew A. Sorensen, Chair President, University of South Carolina • 11th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration James F. Barker President, Clemson University Dr. David A. DeCenzo ON THE COVER: President, Coastal Carolina University The ocean absorbs about a third Dr. P. George Benson of the carbon dioxide that industrial President, College of Charleston society puts into the atmosphere Dr. Raymond S. Greenberg and about four-fifths of the warmth President, Medical University of South Carolina added to the Earth’s climate. John E. Frampton PHOTO/WADE SPEES Executive Director S.C. Department of Natural Resources Dr. George E. Cooper President, S.C. State University Lt. General John W. Rosa COPYRIGHT © 2008 by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. All rights reserved. President, The Citadel

 • Coastal Heritage Altered fate. Timmy Simmons guides clams through a grading-and- counting machine at Livingston’s Bulls Bay Seafood in McClellanville. Scientists say that increasing ocean acidity will probably disrupt the growth of clams and other marine species that build shells. PHOTO/WADE SPEES

Climate change and ocean health by John H. Tibbetts

he sea is feeling the heat. Over the “climate change’s other problem.” U.S. fisheries,” says Scott Doney, a T past half-century, the ocean has Global warming doesn’t cause ocean senior scientist with the Woods Hole absorbed about four-fifths of the warmth acidity. Instead, escalating emissions Oceanographic Institution. added to the Earth’s climate. Arctic sea of carbon dioxide, which mostly drive Meanwhile, coral reefs around the ice is retreating at an unprecedented global warming, have also altered the world are dying. By 2050, scientists pace. Ice sheets are melting into the ocean’s chemical balance. predict, coral reefs could disappear ocean at a faster and faster clip. During By 2050, increasing ocean acidity from the world’s oceans. the 1990s, global mean sea level—and is expected to disrupt the growth of Shallow, sunlit waters, sparkling sea level along the Atlantic coast—rose marine creatures that build shells, with brilliantly colored fish and coral more quickly than at any other time including oysters, clams, lobsters, species—we’ve all seen spectacular during the twentieth century, contribut- scallops, whelks, blue crabs, and many images of coral reefs. Over the past ing to erosion along vulnerable others. These animals could become two decades, though, ocean warming shorelines. increasingly smaller and malformed. has overheated many reefs, seriously These trends are troubling. But, Blue crabs in the Atlantic estuaries, threatening one of the ocean’s richest perhaps most alarming, fisheries around for instance, would probably become repositories of biological wealth. the globe are threatened by a one-two runts by mid-century. Corals reefs, moreover, would erode in punch of rising temperatures and “Acidification would directly more acidic waters, diminishing increasing acidity of seawater. affect anything in the ocean that has a catches of grouper, snapper, and other Ocean acidity has been called shell—about half of the total value of reef fish.

Summer 2008 •  Climate change is adding a further burden to marine ecosystems. Temperature change “We are now observing what may become, in the absence of policy ˚C above pre-industrial changes, a collapsing (ocean) ecosystem with climate the final coup 4.0 u >4˚C: Major extinctions around the globe d’grace,” asserts Achim Steiner, u ≥40% global ecosystems transformed executive director of the United u Few ecosystems can adapt Nations Environment Programme, in 3.5 u Extinctionsc of 15%– 40% of endemic species in global biodiversity hot spots a February 2008 report. In tropical reefs, ocean warming

3.0 u Widespread coral mortality is breaking down the crucial symbi- u ~20%–30% of species committed to extinction otic relationship between coral animals and algae called zooxanthel- u ≥ 15% of global ecosystems transformed 2.5 lae, which live in healthy coral tissue. u Major (~20%– 80%) loss of Amazon rainforest Zooxanthellae provide nutrients to u Loss of ~10% –80% of various fauna coral animals through photosynthesis 2.0 in S. Africa and help make the spectacular colors u Coral reefs bleached u ~10% –15% of species committed for which corals are known. But they 1.5 to extinction are surprisingly sensitive to small u Loss of 8% of freshwater fish habitat in N. America increases in average temperatures. When summer ocean temperatures 1.0 u Polar ecosystems increasingly damaged increase one to two degrees Celsius (1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, u Amphibian extinctions 0.5 increasing on mountains zooxanthellae die or flee the coral. The corals bleach (lose their color), starve, get Optimistic scenario sick, and often die. During the summer of 0 Pessimistic scenario 1998, about 80 percent of coral reefs Observed bleached in the Indian Ocean, and about 20 percent subsequently died. -0.5 Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II, “What I’ve seen in the past few Year 1900 2000 2100 2200 Technical Summary, Table T5.3 decades is beyond strange,” says Knowlton. “This is an environmental This graphic illustrates two projected warming scenarios and their catastrophe. The question has been impacts over the next two centuries. One is a business-as-usual, whether coral reefs are the canary in pessimistic scenario; the other is an optimistic projection in which the coalmine for the oceans. The national governments drastically limit greenhouse-gas emissions. answer to that is clearly yes. But the canary has already passed out on the floor of the cage. The question now is “We are undertaking a massive ing to the United Nations Food and whether we can revive the canary.” experiment on coral reefs and on the Agriculture Organization. Without One piece of good news is that ocean in general,” says Nancy coral ecosystems, many coastal U.S. policymakers have started to Knowlton, a coral-reef biologist with economies, particularly those in poor acknowledge the seriousness of global the Smithsonian National Museum of countries, would suffer. warming because of a “drumbeat of new Natural History. In early 2008, food riots followed climate science and experience,” says Climate change’s most immediate rapidly escalating grain prices in John P. Holdren, a professor of environ- threat in the ocean is to coral reefs, nations from Mexico to Pakistan. mental policy at Harvard University. which provide habitat for one-fourth of Seafood prices would similarly skyrocket Climate science, he says, shows all marine fish species, protect coasts if fish catches decline and if aquacul- that global warming is occurring at a from waves and storms, contain ture couldn’t maintain its aggressive pace and scale that is “faster, bigger, potential pharmaceuticals, and support pace of expansion. Over-harvesting, and more dangerous than anyone tourism and fishing industries worth pollution, coastal development, and thought possible before.” billions of dollars. About 2.6 billion invasive species are increasingly Americans are experiencing people worldwide rely to some degree damaging fishing grounds—and wild symptoms of climate change in their on seafood for animal protein, accord- catches have been stagnant for years. own communities and reading news

 • Coastal Heritage reports of warming trends around the world. Major corporations, religious groups, labor organizations, national- security enterprises, and other interested South Carolina aims to stem parties have recently urged policymakers to take action on climate change. The greenhouse-gas pollution Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which shared the D id you know that South Carolina’s approved a comprehensive inventory Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007, greenhouse-gas emissions are and forecast of greenhouse-gas raised global awareness of the problem. unusually large for the size of the emissions in South Carolina from State and local governments, state’s population? Or that South 1990 through 2020. The committee’s meanwhile, have begun addressing Carolina’s emissions are increasing report shows that South Carolina’s climate change. South Carolina is one twice as fast as national trends? greenhouse-gas emissions grew by of 25 states that have completed or Those are among the findings of a 39 percent between 1990 and 2005, broad-based advisory committee that over twice the national average of 16 are working on climate-action plans has outlined 52 recommendations for percent. The state’s emissions (see sidebar at right). state policymakers. If enacted, these growth was driven largely by population In June 2005, Charleston Mayor recommendations could reduce South growth and emissions associated with Joseph Riley, Jr., signed the U.S. Mayors Carolina’s greenhouse-gas emissions electricity generation. while enhancing energy The principal sources of South and economic efficiency. Carolina’s emissions are in electricity By executive order, use and transportation, accounting Annual S.C. greenhouse- Governor Mark Sanford for 35 percent and 34 percent of gas (GHG) emissions in 2007 established the South Carolina’s emissions, respec- GHG South Carolina Climate, tively. Other sources include indus- Energy, and Commerce trial processes, agriculture and Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent Advisory Committee industrial fuel use, and residential 140 (CECAC). The committee and commercial fuel use. reported its findings in The committee’s 52 policy 120 mid-July 2008. recommendations address four The committee sectors: residential, commercial, and 100 comprises representa- industrial; energy supply; transportation 80 tives from industry, and land use; and agriculture, environmental groups, forestry, and waste management. 60 government agencies, Most recommendations are market- academic institutions, and incentive-based. 40 agriculture, forestry, For instance, South Carolina coastal interests, real should establish energy-efficiency pro- 20 estate, tourism, banking, grams, funds, or goals for electricity insurance, and other that would reduce the state’s carbon- 2012 0 sectors. The non-profit dioxide emissions, according to the 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Center for Climate committee report. Other recommend- Strategies ations are to establish building- (www.climatestrategies.us) energy codes and other efficiency Projected GHG emissions has provided facilitation projects. Improvements in South

Projected GHG emissions after and technical support. Carolina’s capacity to generate proposed reductions “We took a holistic renewable and nuclear energy view of energy, eco- could substantially reduce future 2020 GHG reduction goal recommended by S.C. Climate, nomic, and climate-change emissions. Energy, and Commerce issues, and looked for The committee’s goal is to Advisory Committee (CECAC) win-win opportunities to encourage South Carolina to bring address greenhouse-gas down its greenhouse-gas emissions GHG = Greenhouse gas emissions,” says Ben to five percent below 1990 levels by Hagood, committee 2020, and stabilize emissions at that chairman and a Mt. level. Many of the committee’s Source: 2008 Center for Climate Strategies Pleasant environmental recommendations, if implemented, attorney. could save South Carolinians money South Carolina’s greenhouse-gas emissions The committee through increased efficiency, accord- could be cut dramatically by 2020, according reviewed, updated, and ing to the committee report. to a state advisory committee.

Summer 2008 •  green technology. Tom Gion, a laboratory technician at Southeast BioDiesel in North Charleston, draws a sample for a quality-control test. Processed from poultry fat, this fuel in a diesel engine can reduce a vehicle’s carbon emissions up to 78 percent, the company says. PHOTO/WADE SPEES

Climate Protection Agreement, setting goals for the city to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions to seven percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012. The mayors of Rock Hill, Columbia, Greenville, and Sumter also signed the agreement. Charleston created a citizen Green Committee, which is forming a comprehensive plan to meet specific emissions targets. Even so, state and local actions, while important, won’t stem accelera- tion of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions and provide global leadership on the problem, Holdren says. That’s why federal action is urgently needed. “We are near a political tipping point” regarding a U.S. policy to manage climate change, which “needs to be national, mandatory, stiff, and soon.”

A threshold is approaching

There’s a number that climate scientists watch with special concern: the atmospheric concentration of

Gross greenhouse-gas emissions by sector, 2005 carbon dioxide (CO2). Transportation Transportation Since the 1750s, industrializing 34% 27% societies have drilled or mined for fossil Industrial process Industrial process fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and burned 4% 4% Waste Waste them to run vehicles, power plants, and 3% 3% factories. The resulting waste—carbon Agriculture and Agriculture and dioxide—rises into the atmosphere forest fires forest fires 3% 7% where it captures a portion of the sun’s Residential/com- Residential/com- radiant energy and, in turn, raises the mercial fuel use mercial fuel use 4% 8% temperature of the Earth. Numerous Industrial fuel use Industrial fuel use studies have confirmed links between 15% 14% rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations Fossil fuel industry Fossil fuel industry and warmer global temperatures over 1% South Carolina United States 3% Electricity Electricity geological timeframes. 35% 34% Source: 2008 Center for Climate Strategies Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the atmo- South Carolina’s transportation sector (mostly cars and trucks) produces a larger spheric concentration of carbon percentage of the state’s greenhouse-gas emissions than the national average. dioxide has gone up from 280 parts

 • Coastal Heritage per million (ppm) to 385 today, the floods with catastrophic effects on surface layers of the ocean. Corals, as a highest it’s been in more than a half- agriculture and water supplies. result, can’t build healthy structures as million years. (The most important Can we prevent the planet from efficiently. In acidic water, a coral’s greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide; others passing the 500 ppm threshold? It’s skeleton is weakened in a process similar include water vapor, methane, and possible, but difficult. National govern- to osteoporosis. Field experiments have nitrous oxide.) ments would have to collaborate very shown that acidification has lowered From 1750 to 2007, the atmospheric soon on a new global system of producing growth rates —that is, calcification—of

CO2 concentration rose at an average and consuming energy that releases scant some corals on Australia’s Great Barrier annual rate of 0.40 ppm. During the last few or no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Reef by 20 percent. decades of that period, however, this rise What if the tipping point is 450 Perhaps the most troubling accelerated. From 1970 to 2000, the ppm? No one has come up with a aspect of acidification is that “it’s concentration increased about 1.5 ppm each politically and economically feasible plan essentially irreversible” once it’s year, as human activities sent more of the to avoid crossing 450 ppm, a number started, says Scott Doney of the gas into the atmosphere. That’s almost four that’s “right around the corner,” says Woods Hole Oceanographic times faster than the historical rate since the Hoegh-Guldberg. The planet will breach Institution. The only way to slow the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. 450 ppm within about three decades, he acidification process is to prevent

From 2001 to 2007, the concentra- says. “We’re very, very close.” further CO2 emissions. tion accelerated even further, by an average of 2.1 ppm annually, according to THE Acidifying oceanS the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That’s more The ocean absorbs about a third of than five-fold above the average since the carbon dioxide that industrial 1750. From 2006 to 2007, it rose 2.6 ppm, society puts into the atmosphere. The more than a six-fold increase. sea, in fact, takes in almost a million

Because of our past and current tons of CO2 per hour. That’s a good actions, the concentration of atmo- thing and a bad thing. spheric CO2 will continue to acceler- If the ocean at some point failed to ate—unless leading industrial nations dissolve atmospheric CO2, the planet find ways to reduce greenhouse-gas would overheat very rapidly. But that emissions drastically. won’t happen for some time, according Pteropods, like this one, are a The core of the problem is that the to the IPCC. The ocean will continue crucial link in the food chain, global economy depends on burning fossil dissolving CO2 for hundreds or thou- but they could be harmed by fuels for its energy needs. Today, about 80 sands of years to come. ocean acidification. percent of worldwide energy use—and 88 What keeps many marine scien- PHOTO/Larry Madin, Woods Hole percent of U.S. energy use—is derived tists up at night, however, is that when Oceanographic Institution from burning fossil fuels. the ocean absorbs increasing amounts What does all this mean for marine of carbon dioxide, it turns acidic. The “We will have to do something ecosystems, particularly coral reefs? ocean is naturally slightly alkaline, but very drastic in terms of reducing CO2 Scientists say there is a tipping point of the ocean has become 30 percent more emissions or we will bring about the

CO2 beyond which coral reefs world- acidic since 1750. end of coral reefs as we know them,” wide would bleach and disappear. That Coral reefs will be among the says Knowlton of the Smithsonian. tipping point is probably about 500 ppm earliest casualties of acidification. To escape hotter temperatures, of atmospheric CO2, though it could be Corals use calcium compounds in some tropical coral reefs might be able as low as 450 ppm, says Ove Hoegh- seawater to form protective skeletons, to migrate toward higher latitudes— Guldberg, a coral biologist with the or shells. A coral starts out as a very from Florida and the Caribbean up University of Queensland in Australia. simple free-floating larva. When it into the Carolinas, for instance. But (Remember, it’s now 385 ppm.) attaches to a hard surface such as older many reefs won’t relocate quickly If the atmosphere reached 500 ppm, coral, a rock, or a sunken ship, it enough and will succumb to heat the Earth would eventually warm about becomes a polyp. Then the animal, stress. In any case, coral reefs that three degrees Celsius (4.8 degrees scarcely more than a mouth and a gut, migrate pole-ward would almost Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels begins extracting calcium carbonate certainly get hit by acidification and —which might not sound like much. from seawater to build a chalky fade away by mid-century. Even so, scientists say, it would burn up skeleton shaped like a cup. Says Knowlton, “Coral animals coral reefs around the world and cause Today, acidity is reducing the don’t necessarily die in highly acidic more extreme droughts, storms, and saturation levels of calcium carbonate in waters. Instead, they turn into little

Summer 2008 •  Deepwater corals

Generation after generation of corals have built intricate, complex structures not only in the tropics but also in cold, deepwater regions, including ones 80 to 90 miles off the South Carolina coast. South Carolina’s corals are much less understood than their tropical cousins because they’re hard to reach and study. In frigid, dark, dense water along the continental shelf, these corals are nourished by tiny particles drifting down like snow from the surface of the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream in fact supports a necklace of deepwater corals—also called cold-water corals—from Florida to North Carolina, which scientists have explored by submersible and sonar technologies. Numerous fish species— wreckfish, blackbelly rosefish, and many others—use these corals for shelter, feeding grounds, or nurseries. At depths of 200 feet to two miles, most of the world’s deepwater corals were undiscovered until a decade or two ago. Corals have been found in deep water in every ocean as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as fragile ecosystem. Deepwater corals off the U.S. southeastern coast the Southern Ocean surrounding are vulnerable to increasing ocean acidity. A rich variety of species depend on these Antarctica. Most of world’s coral ecosystems for food and shelter, including (above) a brisingid sea star (Novodinia species, scientists have learned, actually antillensis), which is called a “star fish,” and (below) a Conger eel Conger( oceanicus). live in the cold and the dark. Acidification has not reached PHOTOS/ROSS (ET AL.,) NOAA, HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION deeper waters yet. But, by 2050, it is sea anemone-like creatures, attached to In response, the U.S. House of expected to spread there as well. Like a hard substrate, but they stop building Representatives is considering the their tropical counterparts, deepwater skeletons. Over time, storms and Federal Ocean Acidification corals build reef structures by extracting currents pound what’s left of the three- Research and Monitoring Act calcium carbonate from seawater. In an dimensional complexity of reefs that can (H.R. 4174). The act would authorize acidifying ocean, these structures would be seen from space. The reef structures appropriations totaling $55 million start to disappear.

would eventually disappear.” from 2009 through 2012 to develop “It doesn’t take much more CO2 in Ocean warming and acidification an interagency monitoring and the atmosphere to have a world without together would probably harm reefs faster research plan, which would be chaired carbonate coral ecosystems, says than each impact could alone. “Oceans by NOAA, and establish an ocean- Hoegh-Guldberg. “We’re near the are going to change in a very complex acidification program at NOAA. threshold where you can’t have these fashion as they warm and become acidic A similar Senate bill (S. 1581) systems anymore.” at the same time,” says Gretchen would authorize appropriations The fisheries that are dependent Hofmann, a biologist at the University of totaling $100 million during 2009 on reef systems would also collapse. But California, Santa Barbara. “We’re facing to 2013 to establish a NOAA so would many other fisheries. double jeopardy, with potential synergis- program to conduct research and All of the marine creatures that tic influences between increasing acidity public outreach on ocean extract calcium compounds from and higher seawater temperature.” acidification. seawater to build shells would become

 • Coastal Heritage stunted or malformed in their develop- warmer and more stratified from the ment. Many plankton and snails that deeper ocean. And, throughout the form the base of the marine food chain tropics and subtropics, the surface would also be affected. “We’re expect- ocean is losing phytoplankton, which The most threatened ing a significant hit on U.S. fish catch” photosynthesize and provide oxygen to marine ecosystems from acidification by mid-century, says the marine system and the atmosphere. Doney of Woods Hole. Natural biological deserts in the The 2007 assessment by the Today, U.S. regional fishery manage- Atlantic and Pacific, where already Intergovernmental Panel on ment plans don’t include potential future scant plant life grows, are getting Climate Change (IPCC) named impacts from acidification on marine larger. The loss of phytoplankton will the planet’s four most vulnerable resources. “Environmental conditions are almost certainly harm the marine marine ecosystems. changing,” says Doney. “If management food chain and fisheries. Past changes plans don’t address acidification, you in phytoplankton growth have been might force a (commercial) species into shown to influence fishery yields and 1 Tropical coral reefs functional extinction.” marine bird populations. In other face stress from global words, increasing ocean desertifica- warming and acidic oceans Satellite observations tion would add another pressure on caused by increasing are crucial some fisheries. CO2 emissions. The ocean warming since 1998 Deepwater corals (such as Global warming is starting to erase could be part of a short-term variation. 2 ones found 80 to 90 miles plant life along the edges of the ocean’s But studies of marine temperatures and off the South Carolina natural biological “deserts.” photosynthesis are consistent with coast) are threatened by Three ingredients are needed to computer-model predictions of what is ocean acidification. grow floating single-celled plants— likely to happen in the ocean during phytoplankton—living in the surface climate change. Sea-ice ecosystems along layers of the ocean. Phytoplankton “As the planet warms, we will get 3 the disappearing Arctic ice blooms require sunlight, iron, and even more stratification in the cap are under extreme surges of nutrients brought up by ocean,” says David Karl, an ocean- stress. Sea ice in the Arctic currents from the deep. Recently, ographer at the University of Hawaii. is disappearing at a very though, a hotter ocean is disrupting Observations from instruments, rapid rate. Summer ice this recipe. The ocean surface has been sensors, and other technologies on could be gone in 25 years. warming rapidly, by about one percent shore, in the water, and in the Species dependent on a year from 1998 to 2007. atmosphere have been invaluable in productive ecosystems “When you warm the surface water, helping scientists learn how the along sea-ice edges could you increase its buoyancy,” says Michael disappear. Behrenfeld, an Oregon State University Acidification of the cold botanist and expert on remote sensing In the cold Southern Ocean 4 of the ocean. The more buoyant surface Southern Ocean could harm surrounding Antarctica, micro- the growth of single-celled layers of the ocean, which are nutrient- scopic coccolithophores—single- poor, are increasingly separate from the algae that provide a large celled algae—could be damaged by denser, colder, nutrient-rich deep. This proportion of the planet’s more acidic oceans. PHOTO/Woods stratification has changed the sea’s oxygen and form the basis Hole Oceanographic Institution of the food web in that part circulatory system, causing a reduced of the world. These carbon- mixing of deep water and the sunlit ate-encased algae are surface waters. called coccolithophores. Behrenfeld and his colleagues Studies have found that have tracked changes in phytoplank- more acidic waters hinder ton on a global basis from a SeaWiFS the algae’s ability to build sensor on a satellite launched in 1997. the carbonate disks that The scientists have found that warming form its shell. However, a ocean temperatures are linked to 2008 British study showed decreasing photosynthesis in the the opposite—that the algae tropical and subtropical oceans. grew larger in acidic water. About 75 percent of the world’s surface ocean, in fact, has become

Summer 2008 •  ocean is changing. The nation’s Companies set their accountants and ocean-observing system, however, is engineers to work, and many discovered fragmented and lacks a consistent that it was less expensive to invest in What you can do stream of funding support. For technologies that capture and sequester instance, the satellite carrying the sulfur dioxide from smokestacks than it SeaWiFS sensor is being discontin- was to buy pollution credits. As a result, Reduce your personal contribu- ued and will no longer send data total emissions have fallen. tion to global warming by using after next year. Scientists lament that Many scientists have expressed less gasoline, natural gas, oil, they will lose a crucial source of cautious optimism that capping-and- and electricity. information about ocean health at a trading could similarly reduce U.S. CO2 time when it’s most needed. pollution over time. But even if tough The next time you purchase a greenhouse-emissions standards were 1 car, choose one that’s fuel- A two-fold approach established in developed and developing efficient. countries, it would be very difficult to There’s no single answer to slowing hold atmospheric CO concentrations Join a carpool, take mass 2 2 transit, walk, or ride a bike. down global warming. But the best way below 500 parts per million. to slash greenhouse-gas emissions is to That’s why some scientists are When you buy an appliance, put a price on them, according to many calling for a two-fold approach. “We 3 choose a highly efficient model. experts. Nations could fix a price on need to develop mitigation schemes to Look for Energy Star, awarded by greenhouse pollution with a direct tax or reduce the amount of CO2 that we put the U.S. Environmental Protec- with emissions trading. The latter choice into the atmosphere,” says Doney. “But tion Agency. probably is more politically feasible in the we also may need to remove some of United States and many other countries. the CO2 already there.” Replace your incandescent bulbs In June 2008, a bill died in the Scientists have proposed several 4 with more efficient compact U.S. Senate that would have set up a ways of scrubbing carbon dioxide from fluorescents, which now come in mandatory ceiling or “cap” on carbon- the atmosphere or “geoengineering” the all shapes and sizes. dioxide emissions and a national world’s climate. One idea that’s system for trading emission permits. received serious attention: stimulating 5 Improve the insulation in your This is called a cap-and-trade system. plant life in the open ocean. home by sealing cracks around The bill would have cut total U.S. In March 2008, Climos, a San windows and doors, and adding global-warming emissions by 66 Francisco company, announced that it insulation to your attic or walls. percent by 2050. But opponents said it had raised $3.5 million to pour iron would cost jobs and raise fuel prices in particles into the sea in an effort to 6 Choose energy-efficient doors an already lagging American economy. stimulate algal growth. The plants and windows. Some members of Congress still would bloom, absorb carbon dioxide

support a cap-and-trade system for from the atmosphere, and when the Plant a tree. Trees soak up greenhouse gases. This kind of algae die, they would sink as carbon 7 carbon dioxide, and in the right regulatory structure has already particles, supposedly into the deep location, they can provide shade proven successful in reducing emis- ocean where the carbon could be in the summer for your home. sions of a different pollutant, sulfur sequestered for decades or perhaps dioxide, which causes acid rain. hundreds of years. In 1990, Congress passed the This process would take carbon out Clean Air Act, enabling of the global carbon system for a long regulators to set a cap on sulfur- enough period to give us breathing dioxide emissions, which was lowered room to develop new technologies that annually. A device that measures emit less carbon. sulfur-dioxide emissions was attached Climos hopes to make money by to each large smokestack. The law entering today’s growing U.S. “carbon- also enabled the creation of a offset” market, which is a largely marketplace—a trading floor—for unregulated cap-and-exchange system buying and selling emissions credits. for greenhouse-gas emissions. The market, over time, defined a Companies like Climos would sell price tag on polluting but also a price carbon credits to other companies that tag on reducing that pollution. produce greenhouse-gas emissions. Companies could choose how to pay. At the Chicago Climate Exchange,

10 • Coastal Heritage 400 corporations have made voluntary offsets for iron dumping anyway. There’s with iron is likely to create a moral but legally binding promises to meet a “no one in charge” of the carbon-offset hazard—that is, it would encourage reduction cap on emissions of carbon market in the United States, says people to continue polluting because dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Buesseler. “A voluntary market can they believe CO2 can be scrubbed Companies that don’t meet the cap happen at any time by anyone with a out of the atmosphere later on, says must buy credits from other companies Web site. The markets are moving Dale Jamieson, a philosophy profes- through the exchange. One goal of the ahead with or without good science, and sor at New York University. “It’s like companies is to prepare for the day small offset markets are big business.” giving methadone to a heroin when the purchase of carbon credits Climos has pledged to work addict.” would be part of a mandatory, national transparently with academic scientists Still, serious climate-engineering system of carbon regulation. who could collaborate on studies or proposals should be considered and Individuals can also buy carbon review research results. Other compa- studied, says Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. offsets. For instance, you could buy an nies that want to pour iron into the “We already have an ocean offset from a carbon broker to protect ocean have not been as forthcoming. that’s fundamentally different from trees in the Amazon that soak up the “Some thought you could dump what’s existed over the past half- greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. iron off the back of a ship, measure the million years” because of pollution But who decides whether a carbon chlorophyll, and be done with it,” says that acidifies and warms the sea. offset is genuine? The market, after all, Buesseler. “We are at a point,” he adds, trades in something that can be difficult In 2008, the Federal Trade “where the context of the climate- to measure: units of a gas that are not Commission, the regulator of advertising change problem is so much larger produced. It can be difficult to certify claims, is holding a series of hearings on and it’s moving so much more that the trees were actually saved from green marketing, which includes quickly than we anticipated that we burning or logging. And what happens to carbon offsets. The commission has will probably move into geoengineer- the carbon offset if the trees are burned become increasingly concerned that ing the climate. That’s probably part by an apparently “natural” wildfire? some green-marketing claims are of the future. We have to look at all Seeding the ocean with iron has its unsubstantiated. of these ideas, no matter how radical own complexities. In any case, some geoengineering they sound, and give them a really A number of major scientific techniques could end up worsening good airing. We may have to do some projects have studied iron dumping and global warming. Seeding the ocean very difficult, challenging things.” the phytoplankton blooms that result. But studies have been too brief and geographically small to determine how much and how far carbon from dead Reading and Web sites plant life sinks into the deep and stays sequestered there, says Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Buesseler, Ken O. et al. “Ocean iron Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Oceanographic Institution. fertilization—moving forward in a sea of www.rggi.org Thorough studies would have to track uncertainty.” Science, January 11, 2008. the life and death of marine plants and Sachs, Jeffrey. “Keys to climate determine how much carbon sequestration Doney, Scott C. “The dangers of ocean protection.” Scientific American, acidification.” Scientific American, April 2008. occurs in the deep ocean. “That’s not easy March 2006. to measure,” Buesseler adds. South Carolina Climate, Energy, and In January 2008, leading marine Flannery, Tim. The Weather Makers. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005. Commerce Advisory Committee scientists issued a warning that it’s too www.scclimatechange.us early to sell carbon offsets from putting Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change iron in seawater, although eventually www.ipcc.ch The Ocean Acidification Network www.ocean-acidification.net this technique could prove useful. In MIT Interdisciplinary Study. The Future of Coal—Options for a Carbon Constrained the journal Science, the scientists argued United Nations Environment Programme. World, March 2007. that demonstration projects should first In Dead Water: Merging of Climate web.mit.edu/coal prove that the technique removes Change with Pollution, Over-harvest, carbon dioxide, retains carbon in the NOAA Climate Program Office and Infestations in the World’s Fishing Grounds, February 2008. deep ocean for a long time, and has www.climate.noaa.gov/cpo_pa/gcc “acceptable and predictable environ- NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution mental impacts.” www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends www.whoi.edu But entrepreneurs could sell carbon

Summer 2008 • 11 co2 culprit. More than half of U.S. power generation comes from burning coal, which produces the most carbon dioxide per unit of energy of any fossil fuel. PHOTO/WADE SPEES

Cleaner-burning coal a necessity

f you had to choose just one word that week, China completes construction of a Many climate scientists and I best defines the challenge of addressing coal-fired, power-generating infrastruc- policymakers are pressing for public global warming, it might be coal. ture that is comparable to the entire funding and support for technological Of all fossil fuels, coal produces the power grid used by Great Britain each innovations that could clean up

most carbon dioxide (CO2) per unit of year, according to a March 2007 emissions from power plants. energy, accounting for about 40 percent of Massachusetts Institute of Technology It’s technically feasible to capture

global CO2 emissions. Because it’s so (MIT) study, “The Future of Coal.” CO2 from coal-fired plants—before or plentiful and cheap, and because the The global economy, according to after burning the coal—and then liquefy, world’s fastest-growing economies depend the MIT report, can’t switch quickly transport, and inject it underground at the

on it for their energy needs, CO2 emissions from coal-fired power to nuclear power depths of at least one kilometer. Porous from coal burning are likely to increase or alternative energies (wind, solar, geo- rock formations in certain geological

dramatically over the next two decades. thermal, biomass, and other technologies) formations would absorb the CO2. More than half of U.S. power in time to address the challenges of This entire process is called carbon generation comes from burning coal. India climate change. capture and sequestration—or CCS—and depends on it too. But it’s China that is What to do? An urgent priority for it is “the critical enabling technology to

rapidly becoming the biggest coal burner. the United States and other coal-burning reduce CO2 emissions significantly while Coal accounts for about 70 percent of nations is to develop cost-effective allowing fossil fuels to meet growing energy China’s total energy consumption. technologies for new, cleaner coal-fired needs,” states the MIT report. China constructs the equivalent of power plants, says John P. Holdren, a CCS could also be used for natural more than two 500-megawatt, coal-fired professor of environmental policy at gas and biomass electricity generation power plants per week. In fact, each Harvard University. facilities, and in cement, ammonia, and

12 • Coastal Heritage iron manufacturing. April 2008 Scientific American, he criticizes Still, there are major hurdles. An the U.S. government for failing “to get expensive pipeline infrastructure would World coal consumption even one demonstration CCS power plant have to be constructed to transport the off the ground.” liquefied CO2 between power plants and In January 2008, the U.S. dumping grounds. It also would be Million tons of oil equivalent Department of Energy (DOE) nixed a plan politically difficult to designate enough 3500 for FutureGen, which was to be the underground dumping sites to receive the 3000 nation’s first demonstration coal-fired plant concentrated gas. 2500 to collect and dispose of its own CO2 A CCS system that captures 90 emissions underground. Citing escalating 2000 percent of CO2 from a coal-based plant, costs, the federal government pulled using the best current technology, would 1500 funding for this joint project with 13 require an increase in fuel consumption 1000 utilities and coal companies. The DOE of 14 to 25 percent, according to a 2005 500 even had a site for the plant in central

IPCC special report. Additional (non- 0 Illinois. Now, DOE says it plans to help coal) fuels and chemicals are required to 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 industry add CCS capability to coal plants extract carbon dioxide and prepare the already in the works. gas for transport and storage. This would In March 2008, China and Australia mean higher utility rates for customers. Coal burning is rising signed an agreement to build and install a A March 2008 U.S. Environmental significantly partly because pilot CCS plant in Beijing. The plant Protection Agency analysis suggested that of increased demand for would rely on post-combustion capture, a all power plants in the United States could electricity in India and China. process that uses a liquid to capture carbon have CCS technology by 2040. dioxide from power station flue gases. It

But early demonstration plants can reduce CO2 releases from coal-fired would have to receive some public power plants by more than 85 percent. Sources: United Nations, BP, U.S. Department of funding because they’d be so expensive to Energy, International Energy Agency, and press reports Sachs writes, “By 2010 at the latest, build and operate, according to Jeffrey the world should be breaking ground on Graphic: Worldwatch Institute Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at demonstration CCS coal-fired plants in Columbia University. Writing in the China, India, Europe, and the U.S.”

Governments are urged to step up research of a process called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) – capturing carbon Capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground or underwater. Technology and theory Carbon dioxide can be absorbed in Captured and trans- Dissolved into Released via coal beds, allowing storage to be ported to CCS loca- ocean water offshore plat- effective at shallower depths; also tions from major emis- below 3,300 ft. form to form a can enhance methane recovery. sion sources. through a fixed “lake” on the pipeline or ship. ocean floor.

Injected into salt formations or de- Caprock pleted oil and formations cre- gas reserves at ate a seal, pre- depths below venting gasses 2,600 ft. from migrating to the surface.

Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Graphic: Associated Press Governments are urged to step up research of a process called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) – capturing carbon Summer 2008 • 13 Capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground or underwater. Technology and theory Carbon dioxide can be absorbed in Captured and trans- Dissolved into Released via coal beds, allowing storage to be ported to CCS loca- ocean water offshore plat- effective at shallower depths; also tions from major emis- below 3,300 ft. form to form a can enhance methane recovery sion sources through a fixed “lake” on the pipeline or ship ocean floor

Injected into salt formations or de- Caprock pleted oil and formations cre- gas reserves at ate a seal, pre- depths below venting gasses 2,600 ft. SOURCE: Intergovern- from migrating to mental Panel on the surface Climate Change AP

UN CLIMATE CHANGE 022707: Graphic shows process of carbon dioxide capture and storage; 3c x 3 inches; 96 mm x 76 mm; with BC-UN- Climate Change; MJS/SMH; ETA 6 p.m.

It is mandatory to include all sources that accompany this graphic when repurposing or editing it for publication. To receive the NPS brochure, visit Consortium’s www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=42. 2004 – 2006 report A State of Knowledge report on published South Carolina Coastal Wetland Impoundments (remnant rice fields) A report covering two years of was also recently published. Written by Consortium-sponsored research, Daniel Tufford at the University of outreach, education, and communi- South Carolina, the report includes a cations projects is available. The research summary from the mid- report describes efforts in the areas of The booklet, based in large part 1980s to present, prior research and coastal ocean processes, natural on over 15 years of research by policy hazards, ecosystem dynamics, coastal scientists Fred Holland, director of the recommen- growth and ecosystem effects, coastal NOAA Hollings Marine Laboratory, dations, a communities and economies, marine and Denise Sanger, assistant director summary aquaculture and fisheries, and for research and planning at the of active education and public awareness. Consortium, includes recommenda- research To order a hard copy, visit tions for protecting these habitats, and new www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=155. provides additional resources for more recommen- information, and contains a helpful dations, glossary of terms. and a Tidal Creek Habitats was produced comprehen- with support from the NOAA Hollings sive cited reference list. Support for Marine Laboratory, S.C. Sea Grant this report was provided to the S.C. Consortium, and S.C. Department of Sea Grant Consortium through a Natural Resources, as part of the grant from the S.C. Department of NOAA Oceans and Human Health Health and Environmental Control– Initiative. To order, visit Office of Ocean and Coastal www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=156. Resource Management provided On a related topic, the S.C. Sea by NOAA. To order the report Grant Extension Program has devel- or download a PDF, visit oped an informational brochure about www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=326. Ecosystems nonpoint source pollution in coopera- publications now tion with scientists of a S.C. Sea Grant- available sponsored stormwater best management Rip currents practices research project. The research awareness program The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium is focused in Oak Terrace Preserve, a gears up in S.C. and its partners have created two sustainable residential development in new publications that offer crucial North Charleston. Beachgoers need more under- information on sensitive ecosystems The brochure defines nonpoint standing of rip currents, which are in coastal South Carolina. source (NPS) pollution, describes ways fast-moving currents that flow away A booklet, Tidal Creek Habitats: that communities can minimize NPS, from the shore, often catching Sentinels of Coastal Health, explores and gives specific tips for individuals swimmers by surprise. tidal creek ecosystems and the and homeowners about what they can Over the past year, in an effort various threats to the valuable do to reduce the amount of pollutants led by the S.C. Sea Grant Extension ecological services they provide. released into the environment. Program, Georgetown and Horry

14 • Coastal Heritage counties have taken steps to save counties, have run on the local governing agency, definitions of lives from these dangerous currents. government channel for Horry terms, links to permitting resources, In 2007, the counties kicked off County, and were distributed to two and contact information for state and with a Rip Currents Awareness state parks, the Grand Strand federal regulators. Workshop at Coastal Carolina Visitors Centers, and local hotels. The Regulatory Pathfinder University that was attended by over Partners for the awareness was created with support from the 50 people, representing organizations campaign are the S.C. Sea Grant S.C. Sea Grant Consortium. involved with public safety, fire Consortium, National Oceanic and To learn more, visit www.law.sc.edu/ departments, lifeguards, the Coast Atmospheric Administration pathfinder/coastal_development. Guard, power squadrons, and the (NOAA) National Weather Service, National Weather Service. NOAA National Sea Grant College Program, National Park Service, and Coastal Heritage United States Lifesaving Association. wins awards For more information about efforts in South Carolina, contact Clay Coastal Heritage, a quarterly McCoy, S.C. Sea Grant Extension publication of the S.C. Sea Grant Program coastal processes specialist, at Consortium, recently won two (843) 349-4012 or cmccoy@coastal. prestigious awards from the Society edu. Visit www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov for Technical Communication for for safety tips, forecasts for several 2007-2008: A Distinguished award cities including Charleston, S.C., a from the Carolina Chapter and a Q&A section, and the science behind Distinguished award in the why rip currents occur. international competition. The rigorous judging process was based on Regulatory Pathfinder content and Coastal navigates coastal Heritage organization, development laws VOLUME 21, NUMBER 3 WINTER 2007 copy-editing, Ann Malys Wilson, interpretive ranger, Myrtle Beach State Park. PHOTO/S.C. Sea Grant visual design, Extension Program Kim Diana Connolly, a professor and creativity. at the University of South Carolina Coastal The workshop focused on the School of Law, and two graduate Heritage was driving forces of rip currents, forecast- students have developed a compre- Rising Tide on display Will Climate Change ing, awareness, and effective methods to hensive Web site now in beta form to Drown Coastal Wetlands? at the 2008 Winter 2007 •  reach target audiences. assist individuals, business owners, Technical As a result of the workshop, a core and municipal officials sort through Communications Summit in Philadelphia, group developed a rip currents the many state and federal laws that Pennsylvania, in June. outreach strategy to include “Break the govern coastal development. Subscriptions to Coastal Heritage Grip of the Rip®” signs, magnets, The Web site describes specific are free upon request by contacting brochures, public service announce- regulatory processes involved in Annette Dunmeyer at ments (PSAs), and presentations to building docks, marinas, houses, sewer (843) 953-2078 or via e-mail at various beach user groups. systems, and septic tanks, among [email protected]. The PSAs aired over 500 times many other projects. The Web site Current and past issues are on WPDE Ch. 15, which broadcasts also provides brief descriptions of available on-line at in both Horry and Georgetown relevant laws with links to the www.scseagrant.org/Products.

Summer 2008 • 15 20th Annual 2008 South Carolina 11th International Beach Sweep/ Water Resources Conference on River Sweep Conference Shellfish Restoration Statewide, South Carolina N. Charleston, South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina September 20, 2008 October 14-15, 2008 November 19-22, 2008

Join S.C. Sea Grant Consortium The purpose of the conference The 11th International Conference and S.C. Department of Natural is to provide an integrated forum for on Shellfish Restoration will be held Resources for Beach Sweep/River discussion of water policies, research November 19-22, 2008 in historic Sweep Saturday, September 20, 2008. projects, and water management in downtown Charleston, S.C. Last year over 6,000 dedicated the state. Conference sessions will focus volunteers removed 57 tons of debris, This ambitious undertaking seeks on the following program themes: covering 1,345 miles of environmentally to include participants from all areas Shellfish Resource Restoration, Enhance- sensitive areas. concerned with water issues. ment, and Management; Shellfish To volunteer on the coast, contact The event will focus on research Habitat Restoration, Enhancement, Susan Ferris Hill at (843) 953-2078 or and policies vital to the quality of life and Management; Water Quality and [email protected]. To and economic prosperity of South Public Health Issues; Community-based volunteer inland, contact Bill Marshall Carolina. Restoration Strategies; and Shellfish at (803) 734-9096 or marshallb@dnr. For more information, visit Restoration Projects—Lessons Learned. sc.gov. For more information, visit www.SCwaterconference.org. For additional information or to register, www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=49. visit www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=297.

Subscriptions are free upon request by contacting: [email protected]

ATTENTION SCHOOL TEACHERS! The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium has designed supplemental classroom resources for this and past issues of Coastal Heritage magazine. Coastal Heritage Curriculum Connection, written for both middle- and high-school students, is aligned with the South Carolina state standards for the appropriate grade levels. Includes standards-based inquiry questions to lead students through explorations of the topic discussed. Curriculum Connection is available on-line at www.scseagrant.org/education.

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. Postage Paid Charleston, SC 287 Meeting Street PERMIT #248 Charleston, S.C. 29401

Coastal Heritage is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Web site: www.scseagrant.org

16 • Coastal Heritage