WATCH: The June 22 Hearing on Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act
On Tuesday, June 22, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources hosted a hearing on Congressman Raul M Grijalva‘s Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act, along with associated bills introduced by Rep. Jared Huffman (H.R. 1689), Rep. JENNIFFER GONZALEZ (H.R. 3160), Rep. Don Beyer (H.R. 3892), and Rep. Chellie Pingree (H.R. 3160)
The hearing featured testimony by witnesses, including Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson from Urban Ocean Lab, and our own Marce Gutiérrez-Graudins, Founder & Executive Director of Azul, and Senator Chris Lee from Hawaii.
By absorbing over 90% of excess heat emitted into the atmosphere and over 30% of the CO2, the ocean has buffered us from the most extreme impacts of climate change, but that service comes with a cost. Tackling climate change is getting more and more expensive every year, and communities already feel the impacts of sea-level rise, intensified storms and flooding, wildfires, and other consequences of a changing climate.
During the June 22, 2021 hearing, witnesses stressed that oceans cannot be ignored in our search for climate change solutions. In the words of Abbey Engleman, Knauss Fellow at the NRC, “Blue Carbon Ecosystems sequester several times more carbon than forests, which is consequently released when these ecosystems are degraded or destroyed. Renewable energy offers a sustainable solution to harness energy within close proximity to the 40% of Americans living in coastal counties. Regenerative ocean farming could bring co-benefits of carbon sequestration, ecosystem health, jobs, and sustenance. Last, but absolutely not least, plastic pollution and climate change are environmental justice issues. Environmental justice must be at the forefront of all climate policy, because ultimately, conservation is about people.”
If you missed the hearing, you can watch it below.