Who cares about ocean acidification in the Plasticene?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Who cares about ocean acidification in the Plasticene?

AU - Tiller, Rachel

AU - Arenas, Francisco

AU - Galdies, Charles

AU - Leitão, Francisco

AU - Malej, Alenka

AU - Martinez Romera, Beatriz

AU - Solidoro, Cosimo

AU - Stojanov, Robert

AU - Turk, Valentina

AU - Guerra, Roberta

PY - 2019/5/15

Y1 - 2019/5/15

N2 - Plastics is all the rage, and mitigating marine litter is topping the agenda for nations pushing issues such as ocean acidification, or even climate change, away from the public consciousness. We are personally directly affected by plastics and charismatic megafauna is dying from it, and it is something that appears to be doable. So, who cares about the issue of ocean acidification anymore? We all should. The challenge is dual in the fact that is both invisible to the naked eye and therefore not felt like a pressing issue to the public, thereby not reaching the top of the agenda of policy makers; but also that it is framed in the climate change narrative of fear - whereby it instills in a fight-or-flight response in the public, resulting in their avoidance of the issue because they feel they are unable to take action that have results. In this article, we argue that the effective global environmental governance of ocean acidification, though critical to address, mitigate against and adapt to, is hindered by the both this lack of perception of urgency in the general public, fueled by a lack of media coverage, as well as a fight-or-flight response resulting from fear. We compare this to the more media friendly and plastics problem that is tangible and manageable.

AB - Plastics is all the rage, and mitigating marine litter is topping the agenda for nations pushing issues such as ocean acidification, or even climate change, away from the public consciousness. We are personally directly affected by plastics and charismatic megafauna is dying from it, and it is something that appears to be doable. So, who cares about the issue of ocean acidification anymore? We all should. The challenge is dual in the fact that is both invisible to the naked eye and therefore not felt like a pressing issue to the public, thereby not reaching the top of the agenda of policy makers; but also that it is framed in the climate change narrative of fear - whereby it instills in a fight-or-flight response in the public, resulting in their avoidance of the issue because they feel they are unable to take action that have results. In this article, we argue that the effective global environmental governance of ocean acidification, though critical to address, mitigate against and adapt to, is hindered by the both this lack of perception of urgency in the general public, fueled by a lack of media coverage, as well as a fight-or-flight response resulting from fear. We compare this to the more media friendly and plastics problem that is tangible and manageable.

UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569118308792#!

U2 - 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.03.020

DO - 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.03.020

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0964-5691

VL - may

SP - 170

EP - 180

JO - Ocean & Coastal Management

JF - Ocean & Coastal Management

IS - 174

ER -