Action Alert: Stop Deep Sea Mining!
The deep sea is an extremely delicate ecosystem, home to strange and unique marine life, including thousands of previously unknown species just discovered and about half of the world's coral species.
As one of the least explored and not-yet-regulated places on earth, the deep seas are seeing a tremendous increase in activity to mine minerals and rare metals to supply our ever-increasing need for computer chips for electronics and batteries.
However, recent research and climate modeling emphasize the critical need for caution. We must halt all deep-sea mining until we fully comprehend the potential consequences and establish a protective regulatory body.
Sign our petition and tell lawmakers to put a stop to deep-sea mining!
SIGN THE PETITION
The deep sea plays a critical role in climate change by sequestering carbon from our atmosphere and storing it in the deep sea. It's already stored about 30 percent of the CO2 caused by human activities and holds 42 times as much carbon as our atmosphere. Disturbing the sea floor could cause irreversible damage and cause the effects of climate change massively to be compounded. In the central Pacific Ocean, according to climate modeling of tuna stocks, bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna, the three most valuable tuna fisheries, are shifting their feeding grounds with current shifts related to climate change into the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). This 3,100 square mile place has the greatest mining interest in the world for the potato-sized polymetallic nodules potentially containing copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, and rare earth elements (tellurium required for fastest computer chips and thin-cell solar). In fact, it's not just scientists and activists like us who are sounding the alarm on this issue – major players in the seafood and fisheries industry are taking a stand, too. Tuna fisheries are a $40 billion-a-year industry. And now, even Congress is taking up the issue.
Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii's First District just introduced two bills – the American Seabed Protection Act and the International Seabed Protection Act – that would place a moratorium on deep seabed mining in U.S. waters, requires a comprehensive assessment by the NOAA and NAS, and require the federal government to oppose international mining until the President certifies that a suitable framework is in place to protect this ecosystem.
This is where we have the opportunity to let our decision-makers know what's important to us. These two bills can stop dangerous deep-sea mining – if they pass.
Sign our petition to put pressure on decision-makers at the federal level and tell them not to squeeze every resource from our oceans, no matter the cost.
We value biodiversity, clean oceans, and healthy tuna stocks, and the only way we can guarantee these things is by standing up for them publicly. Together, we can protect our oceans and marine life for future generations!
More soon,
Rob