Climate Change, Human Influence, and Harmony

Abstract

The previous chapter discussed the unprecedented rise in population growth over the past century. This chapter addresses anthropogenic climate change due to increased GHG emissions caused by burning fossil fuels—among the drawbacks of industrialization. How carbon dioxide, one of the GHGs, could influence the air temperature was already understood in the late nineteenth century. It was not until the late 1980s and the first assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in 1990, that concern about global warming spread to a larger group of people. The ocean is under pressure from many stressors, and to meet these threats, restoring healthy marine environments is needed. The image of a healthy ocean suggests a likeness between the ocean and humans, for whom health can be both physical and mental. The ocean challenges us to build such health and to feel the joy of the ocean, which can create something greater: harmony between humans and ocean.