Suggested Answers to the Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

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Question 1

How long has Ted Danson, TV star of Cheers and CSI, been an ocean-environmental advocate?

Answer 1

30 years.

Question 2

What is the background of his co-author, Michael D’Orso?

Answer 2

Mike D'Orso's work includes sixteen books -- all of which were non-fiction, eight of which have been bestsellers and three of which have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. [His newspaper work as a feature writer at the Virginian-Pilot was also nominated three times for a Pulitzer.]

His subjects range from politics to professional football, from racial conflict to environmental destruction, from inner-city public education to social justice to spinal cord injury. The settings for his books range from Arctic Alaska to the Galapagos Islands to the swamps of rural Florida.

Honors for Mike's work include the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the New York Times Notable Book of the Year list, Newsweek Magazine's 2009 list of "50 Books For Our Times," the American Library Association's Alex Award, the Lillian Smith Book Award for writing on social justice, the Christopher Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the American Library Association's Nonfiction Book of the Year, selection among the New York Public Library's "25 Best Books of the Year", and inclusion three times in The Sporting News' annual Best Sports Stories anthology. Eight of Mike's books have been bestsellers.

Question 3

Do all of the carbon gases (carbon dioxide and, from car exhausts, carbon monoxide) remain in the earth’s atmosphere to cause global warming to the extent that the modern production of carbon gases overwhelms the capacity of earth’s plant life to combine the carbon gases with water to convert them back into sugar and oxygen through photosynthesis?

Answer 3

Short Answer = No -- because 30% to 50% of them are absorbed by the earth’s oceans.

It should, however, be noted, that carbon monoxide results from the incomplete burning (aka oxidizing) of fuel under confined circumstances. And that carbon monoxide (CO) released into the atmosphere will continue to oxidize, resulting in carbon dioxide (CO2).

Question 4

What happens to the 30% to 50% of carbon gases absorbed by the earth’s oceans?

Answer 4

There are two different things that can happen when carbon dioxide encounters water.

When the meeting takes place in plants, their chlorophyll (the substance that makes plant leaves green) harnesses the power of sunlight to drive in reverse what happens in animals which burn/oxidize sugar to produce their energy of life (C6H12O6 + 6O2 > 6CO2 + 6H2O) while producing carbon dioxide and water as by-products. Chlorophyll harnessing the power of sunlight, called photosynthesis = 6CO2 + 6H2O > C6H12O6 + 6O2.

Unfortunately, when carbon dioxide and water meet in the absence of chlorophyll, there is a spontaneous reaction that produces carbonic acid = CO2 + H2O > H2CO3.

Carbonic acid should not be confused with carbolic acid (C6H5OH), aka phenol, which is a volatile white crystalline solid used to make petrochemicals (e.g., plastic, epoxies, nylon, detergents, herbicides, fertilizer and pharmaceutical drugs).

On the other hand, carbonic acid is the fizz in soda -- the carbon in carbonated drinks including bubbly wine.

Although carbonic acid is mild compared to many other acids, it will degrade the enamel on your teeth as well as cause ulcers and acid reflux. And, in the ocean, its effects are devastating (read on to Q&A-5 through Q&A-7).

Question 5

Does carbonic acid destroy the ability of aquatic organisms such as coral, snails, oysters and other mollusks, to calcify shells and skeletons sturdy enough to survive?

Answer 5

Yes.

Question 6

Are the coral, snails, oysters and other mollusks at the bottom of the oceans’ food chain so that all other marine life depends upon them, directly or indirectly, for food?

Answer 6

Yes.

Question 7

Does 25% of all of the oceans’ marine life depend on coral reefs alone? Has carbonic acid already wreaked havoc on the coral reefs of the oceans?

Answer 7

Yes. Yes.

Question 8

Are 70% of global fish stocks fully-fished or over-fished? And have 30% collapsed completely, meaning they produce less than 10% of original capacity?

Answer 8

Yes. Yes.

Question 9

Does over-fishing comprise the same threat to the oceans as carbonic acidification?

Answer 9

No. When, for example, huge areas of the U.S. Gulf were closed to fishing during and following the 2010 BP oil spill, many fish stocks rebounded. But damage to the coral reefs will take many decades if not centuries to repair -- AFTER the acidification is brought back into line which, of course, may NEVER occur.

Question 10

If democracy were extended to the fish of the world’s oceans and they were presented with the unhappy choice of suffering from an oil spill or dying from carbonic acidification, what would they choose?

Answer 10

An oil spill, of course. The oil is biodegradable. And fish stocks can rebound.

Question 11

Why are there 3-mile, 12-mile and 200-mile limits to territorial waters that are otherwise part of the earth’s oceans? How do they relate to the so-called Outer Continental Shelf?

Answer 11

Historically, each nation was recognized as having jurisdiction over the first 3 nautical miles from its shores if, for no other reason, than that was the distance a cannon ball could reach.

For several decades prior to 1982-1994, many third-world nations were claiming 200-nautical-mile limits, primarily to provide their citizens with exclusive fishing rights within that area.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (concluded in 1982 but not ratified by a sufficient number of nations to come into force until 1994) did three things vis-à-vis territorial limits = (1) it extended the traditional 3-nautical-mile limit to 12 nautical miles, (2) it recognized the 200-nautical-mile limits as exclusive economic zones, and (3) it recognized each nation’s Outer Continental Shelf (relatively shallow waters that had been exposed during glacial periods, as distinguished from the ocean deeps) as far as 350 nautical miles from shore, as an area within which the nation had complete dominion over oil & gas and other minerals and over marine life.

Question 12

What law, if any, applies outside the territorial limits?

Answer 12

Last month, a plethora of information was posted on our bulletin board in the section entitled “Ellen Birrell & Jim Hutchins” in four essays entitled, sequentially, “Ellen & Jim Robbed By Pirates Off Venezuela 10-16-2010,” “Maritime Law: Right To Firearms For Defense Against Pirates,” “Johnny Depp & Privateers,” and “Pervasive Private Security On Land Or Sea.”

Those essays are highly recommended for anyone interested in this question.

Question 13

Who owns the earth’s resources on and under the high seas (outside anyone’s territorial limits)?

Answer 13

Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, they are owned by all humankind.

Accordingly if, say, an oil company wanted to explore for oil & gas in the ocean beds of the high seas beyond any country’s 200 mile limit & Outer Continental Shelf, it would probably apply to the United Nations for a license pursuant to which it would pay, just like to a licensing government vis-à-vis exploration and production within its jurisdiction, an up-front “signature bonus” which is usually zillions of dollars, and a royalty (or share of the oil & gas produced without bearing any production costs), and income taxes.

The problem, of course, is that not all of the world’s nations (the U.S. being the most-notable exception) have agreed to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (please see Q&A-14).

So far, the economics of exploring and producing oil & gas and other minerals beyond the Outer Continental Shelf have not been favorable.

So just like the world’s headlines occasionally trumpet the conflict when two countries claim the same territorial waters containing oil & gas, we can only relish the prospect that tomorrow’s headlines will trumpet the conflict when two oil companies, one licensed by the U.N., and another under the aegis of a country that has not signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, battle each other with competing claims.

Question 14

Has the U.S. (unlike the European Union and 164 countries) agreed to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea?

Answer 14

No.

The U.S. has never signed the Convention and, most recently, 34 Republican U.S. Senators signed a pledge on 7/16/2012 to oppose ratification if the Convention were to be signed and presented to the Senate for ratification -- which requires 67 affirmative votes.