Black Carbon – melting the Arctic

If we lose the Arctic we lose everything, it really is as simple as that.

Currently the arctic is warming three times faster than anywhere else on Earth. Imagine leaving your freezer open on a hot day then lighting a bbq just in front of it – well that’s exactly what we’re doing to the Arctic. Well not exactly, but if you substitute the bbq for enormous ships belching black carbon all over the Arctic you have an accurate picture. The soot from these ships is accelerating the ice loss, black carbon is 460 – 1,400 times more warming than CO2. And with more ships visiting and exploring the Arctic area this means an awful amount of warming, in fact a crisis level of warming.

This warming is destroying the Arctic, it is actually melting before our eyes, but don’t take our word for it here’s what Austin Ahmusak, Kawerak Marine Advocate, says:
“We in the Arctic are convinced that the Arctic is clearly in crisis and the change is happening, rapidly beyond comparison in human history or in our indigenous knowledge. Last month, the Arctic Council released a new report concluding that the Arctic is warming three times faster than the average heating across the whole planet and we face the possibility that major portions of the cryosphere will be gone. Climate heating in the Arctic threatens the global climate and sea level rise around the world is an immediate concern for low-lying cities. A two metre sea level rise will have devastating impacts in many coastal communities and will likely put community infrastructure underwater.” Full message here.

This massive melt is affecting everything, indigenous people, polar bears, seals, everything. It’s also going to go global in the form of catastrophic sea level rise.

Ocean Rebellion demands the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) ACTS NOW to ban all black carbon emissions.

Ocean Rebellion says to the IMO:
“#MEPC76 gives you the opportunity to be on the right side of history, don’t fuck up (yet) again.”

Photo: Guy Reece