The Oceans Are Dying Outside the Climate Emergency Room
Blocking The Sun To Cool Planet Earth Might Instead Finish Off Planet Ocean.
Don’t Block the Sun – Restore the Oceans First
The oceans, covering 71% of this blue planet, play a far greater role in driving global warming and climate change than climate change plays in affecting the temperature, health, and abundance of the oceans. Let’s focus on the ocean first not the climate.
As reports spread through media suggesting that humanity might soon need to shade the Earth — blocking sunlight with space mirrors or stratospheric aerosols — it’s time to hit pause.
British scientists could experiment with techniques to block sunlight as part of a £50 million government funded scheme to combat global warming. The geo-engineering project is set to be given the go-ahead within weeks. Click to
The true crisis is not simply that the world is too warm — it’s that we are killing the oceans.
The popular narrative is dangerously incomplete. It wrongly claims that the cause of our climate woes is solely the “blanket” of CO₂ in the atmosphere trapping heat. That narrative blinds us to a far more urgent, existential threat: the collapse of ocean life due to a silent, deadly chain reaction triggered by CO₂ emissions.
The True Chain Reaction: CO₂ → Grass → Dust Collapse → Ocean Collapse
“As more CO₂ fuels terrestrial plant growth, notably in grasslands, the great dust bowl regions of the world have seen their dust production plummet — by more than 50% since the 1950s.” — RussGeorge.net – The Ocean Acidification Crisis Isn’t Just About CO₂ From Bad Behaviour — It’s About Collapse of Ocean Pasture Life
- More CO₂ = More Grass Growing = Less Dust Blowing
- Rising fossil CO₂ levels have turbocharged plant growth on land, especially grasses in dry regions — the dustbowls of the world.
- Less dust means the oceans are starving.
- Oceans Depend on Dust to Live
- Dust carries vital mineral micronutrients like iron across oceans. Without it, the vast plankton pastures — the base of the ocean food chain and the engines of planetary cooling — are collapsing.
“This vital dust serves as nature’s micronutrient delivery system, feeding ocean life and driving the planetary carbon and climate systems. As the dust has declined, so too has ocean life.” — OPRAlaska.com – The Dusty Truth About Bering Sea Collapse
The Real Warming Crisis: Collapse of the Ocean’s Biological Cooling Pump
“The oceans have lost between 40% and 50% of their plankton productivity since the 1950s, and with it, a vast natural cooling system has weakened dramatically.” — RussGeorge.net – It’s Not the Weather — The Mystery of the Warm Blob is Due to Collapse of North Pacific Ocean Plankton Pastures
- The Biological Cooling Pump is Failing
- Healthy plankton pastures drive planetary-scale cooling: they shade the ocean surface, build clouds, and reflect solar heat back to space.
- As plankton pastures collapse, the oceans absorb more heat — even faster than the atmospheric CO₂ blanket can account for.
- The Oceans Are Being Strangled
- Fish, whales, seabirds, and entire marine ecosystems are disappearing.
- This collapse is not just a slow-motion extinction — it is a collapse of the ocean’s climate regulation engine.
The Fatal Flaw of “Global Shading” Ideas
And now, some propose to block sunlight?
If we block the sun, we will not fix the oceans — we will finish killing them.
“Ocean photosynthesis, the true lungs of our planet, depends critically on light. Shading the Earth will shut down the ocean pastures even further — worsening the very crisis we claim to be solving.” — RussGeorge.net – The Ocean Acidification Crisis Isn’t Just About CO₂
Reducing sunlight will:
- Cripple ocean photosynthesis
- Collapse marine food webs
- Decrease natural cloud formation even further
- Eliminate one of the Earth’s most powerful natural cooling systems
It would be like deciding to save a starving man by turning off his air supply.
There Is a Better Way: Restore the Ocean Pastures
“The technology and know-how to restore ocean pasture health is already proven, safe, and effective. In 2012, a small-scale Haida-led ocean pasture restoration project off British Columbia restored hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of ocean life — resulting in record salmon returns.” — RussGeorge.net – The Greatest Salmon Story Ever Told
Instead of reckless planetary-scale experiments, we already know a far safer, faster, and proven solution:
- Replenish the dust. Restore the pastures. Revive the oceans.
- Ocean Pasture Restoration simply replenishes the vital micronutrients that dust used to supply.
- Blooms of phytoplankton revive.
- Marine ecosystems rebound.
- Ocean cooling and carbon capture naturally restart.
“We don’t need giant space mirrors or dangerous aerosols — we need tiny pinches of iron dust, delivered with wisdom and care, to restore what nature perfected over eons.” — OPRAlaska.com – How We Restore Ocean Pastures
A Call to Action
Before we gamble with the biosphere by launching sunshade projects,
let’s fix what we already broke.
Let’s bring back the oceans.
The planet is not dying because there’s too much light.
The planet is dying because we are letting the oceans die.
Restore the ocean pastures first — or there will be nothing left to save.
“When we kill the oceans, we kill ourselves. When we restore them, we save the world.” — RussGeorge.net – Home
Final Thought
Wonder why you don’t read and hear more about ocean restoration in the context of climate change?
Could have something to do with the fact that restoring our blue planet’s oceans — and cooling our planet — will cost millions, while competing climate change solutions are enthusiastically planned to cost trillions.