Republicans are playing with fire on the ocean issue

The world is experiencing record temperatures and people are suffering the consequences, but House Republicans are getting tough on one of our most effective tools to combat the climate crisis: the ocean.

No matter where you live, the reality of rapid climate change is already here.

From catastrophic flooding in Vermont, to Tropical Storm Hilary causing catastrophic flooding and flooding in California and Baja California, to increasingly toxic and polluted air in the Midwest, where more than 37 million people have burned this year. With wildfires and record temperatures in the southwest, climate change is wreaking havoc across the country. While it may not be obvious, the ocean mitigates these climate disasters, sometimes even providing refuge from them, as was the case for many people who sat on Maui’s beaches for protection while wildfires burned Lahaina.

If it weren’t for the ocean, the planet’s average temperature on land would be an unbearable 122°F. This temperature has already been reached in the aptly named Death Valley in the Mojave Desert last month. Most parts of our country have failed to cope with excess heat, and it is thanks to the ocean, which has absorbed 90 percent of the excess heat created by greenhouse gas emissions, that they do not have to.

We wouldn’t survive without the ocean, but it is at a tipping point, with record ocean water temperatures reaching the highest temperatures ever recorded, threatening human health and marine life, as well as its climate-regulating properties.

In fact, the ocean’s influence on climate has not been fully appreciated for a long time. Over the course of several years, the situation has changed. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Relief Act provide unprecedented funding for offshore wind, clean ports, and coastal resilience. The White House launches the nation’s first Ocean Climate Action Plan, develops its first Ocean Justice Strategy, takes action for generations of frontline communities who continue to endure environmental injustice, and prepares a National Strategy for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. And Congress has approved increased funding for initiatives that can prepare our communities and our country for the severity of the climate challenges ahead.

All of this progress on climate change in favor of the oceans risks suffering if House Republicans succeed in pushing through their agenda of denying the existence of a climate crisis that threatens the oceans, our national security, and the existence of life above and below the sea.

These partisan actions have serious implications for the health of our country and for ocean and climate conservation efforts as they seek to slash the budgets of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), our flagship ocean and climate initiative, by nearly 15%, cut environmental costs. Budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 40% to its lowest level in 30 years, and cut climate funding under the Climate Cuts Act. Inflation will be $9 billion.

They are also trying to ban initiatives that take into account the social costs of approving projects with additional greenhouse gas emissions that worsen climate change. And their efforts to block research into the impact of climate change on fisheries will threaten the U.S. fishing industry, its 1.7 million jobs, and jeopardize access to protein for those who depend on the ocean for their livelihoods.

And these are just some of the poison pills that will burn House Republicans if they continue to mess with the health, safety and future of people across the country and in other countries.

Congress has a responsibility to stop this madness. Denying funding to initiatives that implement policies and programs to protect communities and the environment will not make climate change go away, nor will a brutal ban on funding for environmental justice programs, which will worsen social inequalities as sea levels rise and coastal flooding occurs. and storms hit frontline communities first and hardest. Boosting hydrocarbon production for decades, as they propose, will not make climate change go away, but will only make the crisis worse.

As floods, fires, heat waves and droughts devastate our communities, it is time to say enough is enough: say NO! is the only acceptable response the Senate and President Biden must provide to stop these extremist efforts. We demand that this administration and our nation’s leaders prioritize our communities, especially those hit hardest by pollution and extreme weather. There is no better time than now to protect our oceans and our climate – and ultimately, our humanity.

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudins is the founder and executive director of Azul, an environmental justice organization working with Latino communities to protect oceans and coasts. She is also the founder and steering committee member of the Ocean Justice Forum.