NASA and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service rated 2020 as tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record (NASA rates the margin of error at .05 degrees C); the Japan Meteorological Agency rated 2020 as the warmest year on record. Minor differences in rankings often occur among various research groups, the result of different ways they handle data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.
Global ocean temperatures in 2020 were the third-warmest on record, global land temperatures the warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures in 2020 for the lowest eight kilometers of the atmosphere were the second-warmest or warmest in the 42-year record, according to the University of Alabama, Huntsville and Remote Sensing Solutions, respectively.
The Northern Hemisphere had its warmest year on record in 2020 and the Southern Hemisphere its fifth-warmest. By continent, here are the 2020 temperature rankings:
Europe: first warmest
Asia: first warmest
South America: second warmest
Africa: fourth warmest
Australia (and Oceania): fourth warmest
North America: 10th warmest
As detailed in a January 12 post at this site by Bob Henson, 2020 for the U.S. was the fifth-warmest year in history going back to 1895. Ten states had their second-warmest year on record and four had their third-warmest year. None of the contiguous 48 states was below-average in temperature in 2020.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for 2020, the second-warmest year the globe has seen since record-keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA. Record-high annual temperatures over land and ocean surfaces were measured across parts of Europe, Asia, southern North America, South America, and across parts of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. No land or ocean areas were record cold for the year. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
The remarkable global warmth of 2020 means that the seven warmest years on record since 1880 were the most recent seven years — 2014 through 2020. The near-record global warmth in 2020 is all the more striking since it occurred during the minimum of the weakest solar cycle in more than 100 years and during a year without a strong El Niño. Record-warm global temperatures typically occur during strong El Niño events and when the solar cycle is near its maximum. The warmth of 2020 is a testament to how significantly human-caused global warming is heating the planet.
Figure 2. Total ocean heat content (OHC) in the top 2000 meters from 1958-2020. Cheng et al., Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
Warmest Year on Record for Total Ocean Heat Content
Despite the presence of a prominent La Niña event that began in August, the total heat content of the world's oceans in 2020 was the warmest in recorded human history, according to a January 13, 2021 paper by Cheng et al., Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020, published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. In the uppermost 2,000 meters of the oceans, there were 211 to 234 zettajoules more heat in 2020 than the 1981-2010 average, and 2020 had 1 to 20 zettajoules more ocean heat content than in 2019 (a zettajoule is one sextillion joules — ten to the 21st power). For comparison, in 2010, humans used a total of 0.5 zettajoules of energy.
More than 90% of the increasing heat from human-caused global warming accumulates in the ocean because of its large heat capacity. The remaining heating manifests as atmospheric warming, a drying and warming landmass, and melting land and sea ice. Increasing ocean heat content causes sea-level rise through thermal expansion of the water and melting of glaciers in contact with the ocean. It also produces stronger and more rapidly intensifying hurricanes; causes more intense precipitation events that can lead to destructive flooding; contributes to "marine heat waves" that damage or destroy coral reefs; and disrupts atmospheric circulation patterns.
A Slew of Heat Records in 2020
International records researcher Maximiliano Herrera keeps the pulse of the planet in remarkable detail, and he logged 11 nations or territories that set or tied their all-time heat records in 2020. That total fell far short of the record of 24 such records in 2019. No nations or territories set or tied an all-time cold record in 2020. Here are the all-time heat records set in 2020:
Colombia: 42.6°C (108.7°F) at Jerusalem, February 19 (tie);
Ghana: 44.0°C (111.2°F) at Navrongo, April 6;
Cuba: 39.2°C (102.6°F) at Palo Seco, April 10; broken again April 11 with 39.3°C (102.7°F) at Veguitas, and again on April 12 with 39.7°C (103.5°F) at Veguitas;
Mayotte, France department: 36.4°C (97.5°F) at Trevani, April 14;
Taiwan: 40.5°C (104.9°F) at Taimali Research Center, July 16;
Lebanon: 45.4°C (113.7°F) at Houche Al Oumara, July 27;
United States: 54.4°C (129.9°F) at Death Valley, California, August 16;
Japan: 41.1°C (106.0°F) at Hamamatsu, August 17;
Dominica: 35.7°C (96.3°F) at Canefield Airport, September 15;
Puerto Rico (U.S. territory): 37.8°C (100.0°F ) at Aguirre, September 17; and
Paraguay: 45.5°C (113.9°F ) at Pozo Hondo, September 26.
Among global weather stations having at least 40 years of record-keeping, Herrera documented 348 that exceeded their all-time heat record in 2020; only eight stations with a long-term period of record set an all-time cold record in 2020. For comparison, 632 stations set their all-time heat record in 2019 and 11 their all-time cold record.
Notable Global Heat and Cold Records for 2020
Hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: 54.4°C (129.9°F) at Death Valley, U.S., August 16;
Coldest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: -66.0°C (-86.8°F) at Summit, Greenland, January 2;
Hottest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 48.9°C (120.0°F) at Penrith Lakes, Australia, January 4;
Coldest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: -80.8°C (-113.4°F) at Dome Fuji, Antarctica, August 16;
Highest 2020 average temperature worldwide: 31.5°C (88.7°F) at Yelimane, Mali, and Matam, Senegal; and
Highest 2020 average temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 29.8°C (85.6°F) at Surabaya Airport, Indonesia, and Wyndham, Australia.
Earth's record for hottest yearly average temperature was 32.9°C (91.2°F) at Makkah, Saudi Arabia, in 2010 and 2016.
126 Additional Monthly National/Territorial Heat Records Beaten or Tied
In addition to the 11 all-time national heat records, 126 other national monthly heat records were set in 2020, for a total of 137 national monthly heat records:
– January (13): Norway, South Korea, Angola, Congo Brazzaville, Dominica, Mexico, Indonesia, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Cuba, British Indian Ocean Territory, Singapore;
– February (12): Spain, Antarctica, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Switzerland, Maldives, Gambia, Russia, Seychelles, Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands;
– March (7): Paraguay, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Seychelles, United States, Thailand, Northern Mariana Islands;
– April (14): Paraguay, Niger, St. Barthelemy, Honduras, Guernsey, Haiti, Congo Brazzaville, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, China, Saba, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic;
– May (10): Niger, Greece, Saba, Cyprus, Solomon Islands, Turkey, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Chile, Uzbekistan;
– June (6): Maldives, Thailand, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saba, Kenya, Ghana;
– July (7): Mozambique, U.S. Virgin Islands, Laos, Myanmar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Northern Mariana Islands;
– August (6): Solomon Islands, Mexico, Australia, Cocos Islands, Paraguay, U.S. Virgin Islands;
– September (18): Laos, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Mexico, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Botswana, St. Barthelemy, Mayotte, Argentina, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory;
– October (11): Algeria, Brazil, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, Peru, Myanmar, Northern Marianas Islands, Botswana, Maldives;
– November (11): Luxembourg, Finland, Nepal, Mexico, Aland Islands, Sweden, Maldives, Northern Marianas, Taiwan, Swaziland, Sudan; and
– December (11): Mexico, Ghana, Pakistan, Algeria, Qatar, Maldives, Niger, Taiwan, Dominica, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands.
One Monthly National/Territorial Cold Record Beaten or Tied in 2020
– April: St. Eustatius.
An October monthly record reported in Aruba was judged to be unreliable.
Hemispherical and Continental Temperature Records in 2020
– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere in January: 29.1°C (84.4°F) at Bonriki, Kiribati, January 17;
– Highest maximum temperature ever recorded in North America in January: 42.0°C (107.6°F) at Vicente Guerrero, Mexico, January 21;
– Highest temperature ever recorded in continental Antarctica and highest February temperature ever recorded in Antarctica plus the surrounding islands: 18.4°C (65.1°F) at Base Esperanza, February 6;
– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in February in Antarctica: 7.6°C (45.7°F) at Base Marambio, February 9;
– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in February in the Northern Hemisphere: 32.0°C (89.6°F) at Yelimane, Mali, February 23;
– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in April in the Southern Hemisphere: 31.1°C (88.0°F) at Argyle, Australia, April 2;
– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in May in Europe: 30.1°C (86.2°F) at Emponas, Greece, May 17;
– Highest minimum temperature ever recorded in May in North America: 35.0°C (95.0°F) at Death Valley, California (U.S.), May 28;
– Highest temperature ever recorded in the polar regions: 38.0°C (100.4°F) at Verkhoyansk, Russia, June 20;
– Highest reliable temperature ever recorded on Earth: 54.4°C (129.9°F) at Death Valley, California, August 16;
– Highest reliable minimum temperature ever recorded in August in North America: 40.0°C (104.0°F) at Death Valley, California (U.S.), August 17;
– Highest temperature ever recorded in Australia and Oceana in August: 40.7°C (105.3°F) at Yampi Sound, Australia, August 22; beaten again with 41.2°C (106.2°F) at West Roebuck, Australia, on August 23; and
– Highest temperature ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere in November: 44.8°C (112.6°F) at San Francisco and Tubares, Mexico, November 5.
December 2020: Earth's Eighth-Warmest December on Record
December 2020 was the eighth-warmest December since global record-keeping began in 1880, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information reported January 14. NASA and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service rated the month as the sixth-warmest December on record, and the Japan Meteorological Agency rated it as the tenth-warmest. Again: Minor differences in rankings often occur among various research groups, the result of different ways they handle data-sparse regions such as the Arctic.
Figure 3. Departure of sea surface temperature from average in the benchmark Niño 3.4 region of the eastern tropical Pacific (5°N-5°S, 170°W-120°W). Sea surface temperature were approximately one degree Celsius below average over the past month, characteristic of moderate La Niña conditions. Tropical Tidbits
A Moderate La Niña Event Continues
La Niña conditions remained in the moderate range during December and early January, prompting NOAA to continue its La Niña advisory in a January 14 monthly discussion of the state of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, or ENSO.
Over the past month, sea surface temperatures in the benchmark Niño 3.4 region of the eastern tropical Pacific (5°N-5°S, 170°W-120°W) have been approximately 1 degree Celsius below average. The threshold for "strong" La Niña conditions is 1.5 degrees Celsius below average; "moderate" La Niña conditions are 1.0-1.5 degrees below average.
Forecasters at NOAA and at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society expect La Niña conditions will continue through the winter (95% chance during January-February-March), and potentially transition to "neutral" during the spring (55% chance during April-May-June). About half of all La Niña events continue into a second year, but fewer than 20% of the ENSO models predicted that La Niña conditions would last into the summer of 2021.
Arctic Sea Ice: Third-Lowest December Extent on Record
Arctic sea ice extent during December 2020 was the third-lowest in the 42-year satellite record, behind 2016 and 2017, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Antarctic sea ice extent in December 2020 was near-average.
Notable Global Heat and Cold Marks for December 2020
– Hottest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: 41.5°C (106.7°F) at Matam, Senegal, December 2;
– Coldest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere: -57.5°C (-71.5°F) at Oymykon, Russia, December 29;
– Hottest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: 48.7°C (119.7°F) at Birdsville, Australia, December 5; and
– Coldest temperature in the Southern Hemisphere: -44.9°C (-48.8°F) at Dome A, Antarctica, December 3.
Major Weather Stations' New All-Time Heat or Cold Records in December 2020
Among global stations with a record of at least 40 years, two stations set all-time cold records in December, and no stations set an all-time heat record:
Hamamasu (Japan) min. -21.5°C (-6.7°F), December 31; and
Bibai (Japan) min. -26.5°C (-15.7°F), December 31.
Statistics courtesy of Maximiliano Herrera.
Reposted with permission from Yale Climate Connections.
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This one doesn't draw tourists, but instead scientists who calculate how large an area has become low enough in oxygen that it can kill fish and other marine life like shrimp.
This hypoxia stems from activities on land. When it rains, excess nutrients — mostly nitrogen and phosphorus from Midwest farm and livestock operations — wash into the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers. Those nutrients make their way to the Gulf, fueling an overgrowth of algae which deprive the waters of oxygen, driving away or killing marine life.
Over the past five years the average size of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone has stretched to more than 5,400 square miles. But these hypoxic areas are also found in other parts of the United States and across the world. And climate change, experts predict, will cause them to get bigger and persist for longer.
Map of the measured Gulf of Mexico hypoxia zone, July-August 2020. LUMCON / NOAA
Efforts to curb excess nutrients in waterways have so far included reducing the use of fertilizers or animal waste applied to agricultural fields and planting cover crops to limit runoff.
Protecting wetlands can also help. They slow the flow of water running off fields, and the roots of the plants absorb nutrient pollutants.
But do these types of efforts work? In a recent study published in Nature, researchers from the University of Waterloo and the University of Illinois Chicago found that efforts to restore wetlands in the United States "are often carried out in an ad hoc manner," meaning they lack comprehensive strategy.
Most notably, they found that the areas where wetland restoration has been undertaken don't necessarily coincide with nitrogen hotspots.
That means we're not making the best use of these natural water purifiers.
If we were to target restoration efforts in these heavily farmed areas, however, we could greatly maximize the water quality benefits of wetlands. The researchers calculated that a 10% increase in wetlands in the United States focused in heavily farmed areas could remove up to 40 times more nitrogen.
That could go a long way in helping to achieve water quality goals. It would be especially helpful for areas that have high amounts of nitrogen, which they advise should get preferential placement. So, while they recommend a 10% increase across the country, some areas would see more wetlands restored. Under one their models, the Mississippi Basin, where nitrogen runoff is high, would actually see a 22% increase in wetlands, which in turn would provide about a "54% decrease in nitrogen loading to the Gulf of Mexico," the researchers found.
They estimate this nationwide 10% bump in targeted restoration would cost $3.3 billion annually, twice as much as restoration of non-agricultural lands, but the costs "are in line with current expenditures to achieve water quality goals," they wrote.
It could also go a long way to helping coastal economies. A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists found that nitrogen loading from upstream agriculture has caused between $552 million and $2.4 billion annually in damages to Gulf of Mexico fisheries and the marine habitat.
There are other benefits, too. Wetlands provide ecosystem services such as flood prevention, carbon sequestration and critical habitat. And, after environmental rollbacks by the Trump administration, water quality is likely to be an even bigger concern.
As the researchers concluded, "These results provide critical context to discussions of wetland restoration and water quality that are especially important today when a new Clean Water Act rule is reducing protections offered to existing wetlands."
Reposted with permission from The Revelator.
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Now, new research published in Oceanography on Tuesday reveals that the climate crisis is the ultimate culprit in their decline as changing conditions have forced them to move into less protected waters.
"They moved so fast that our policies didn't move with them," study co-author and University of South Carolina marine ecologist Erin Meyer-Gutbrod told The New York Times. "The environment is just not as predictable as it used to be, so I think that we all need to think on our feet more."
North Atlantic right whales used to feed in the Gulf of Maine, where protections were in place to guard them against vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements. Then, in 2010, something changed. Warm water entered the gulf and caused the whales' food source — fatty crustaceans that prefer cold water — to plummet.
"Due to a warming climate, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is slowing down, causing the Gulf Stream to move North, injecting warmer and saltier slope water into the Gulf of Maine," senior author Charles Greene of Cornell University said in a press release.
This caused two problems for the whales. First, the reduced food harmed their reproductive capabilities and their birth rates declined starting in 2010.
"When they can't build those thick layers of blubber, they're not able to successfully get pregnant, carry the pregnancy and nurse the calf," Meyer-Gutbrod told The Guardian.
Then, the whales moved northeast to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, where protections against vessel strikes and fishing gear were not in place. Since 2010, the whales' population has fallen by around 26 percent, from more than 500 to just 356, according to the press release.
"We're slowing their births and we're increasing their deaths," Meyer-Gutbrod told The New York Times. "You don't have to be a super mathematician to guess what that change is going to cause."
The Canadian Government did institute more protections in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in response to the shift, the study authors noted, and this seemed to do the trick when only three whales died in 2018, and none of them in the southern gulf. However, the next year 10 whales died. The researchers therefore call for more protections, including rope-free fishing gear and vessel speed limits, according to the press release.
Further, they note the importance of conducting more research to understand how species are moving in response to the climate crisis.
"The case of the North Atlantic right whale provides a cautionary tale for the management of protected species in a changing ocean," the study authors wrote.
A North Atlantic right whale and calf. NOAA
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But now, a paper published in Scientific Reports on Monday reveals that the dolphin was infected with a previously unknown strain of morbillivirus, a disease related to human measles and smallpox that has killed off large numbers of cetaceans — whales, dolphins and porpoises — around the world.
"This finding identifies an important threat to Fraser's dolphins and to the approximately 20 other species of cetaceans that call Hawaii home," study lead author and University of Hawaii at Mānoa's Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology associate researcher Kristi West told EcoWatch in an email.
Deadly Threat
Cetacean morbillivirus is an airborne virus that can spread rapidly between very social species like whales and dolphins. It can also travel between different whale and dolphin species and between a pregnant mother and her calf.
"Cetacean morbillivirus has been identified as one of the biggest disease threats because it has been responsible for mass mortalities of dolphins and whales that have occurred worldwide," West said.
For example, an outbreak in 2013 and 2014 caused a mass mortality event that killed more than 1,500 bottlenose dolphins along the U.S. East Coast.
This is especially a problem if a species or population is already under threat for other reasons, Whale and Dolphins Conservation policy manager Nicola Hodgins, who was not involved in the research, told EcoWatch in an email.
"Morbillivirus has been show[n] to spread rapidly through populations – especially as cetaceans are especially social and travel in large groups – therefore if it were to spread through a population that was already classed as vulnerable it could have a devastating impact," she wrote.
In the case of the waters off Hawaii, this is a real risk, the study authors noted. That is because the islands are home to many unique populations that are already low in numbers. For example, the endangered Hawaiian false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) only number around 167.
"Novel disease is considered a major hurdle to endangered population recovery and even poses the threat of extinction," the study authors wrote.
Further, there is evidence that the Hawaiian populations of Spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata), spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris longirostris), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris), Blainville's beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris), pilot whales, pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata), and Melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra) are unique.
The latter may be especially at risk. Fraser's dolphins have only been seen six times in Hawaiian waters within the past 20 years or so, and they were seen near Melon-headed whales for four of them.
"The presence of many small resident populations makes Hawaii an especially vulnerable location when considering the potential for disease outbreaks among cetaceans," the authors noted.
Unknown Quantities
At the same time, disease outbreaks in the Hawaiian Islands are difficult to study. This is because scientists are able to recover fewer than five percent of the animals that die in these waters, meaning scientists might not even know if an outbreak is occurring.
These low stranding rates also make it difficult to determine what other threats might impact these species and how those threats might interact with a morbillivirus outbreak.
This is especially true of Fraser's dolphins, which are a relatively unknown species who live mostly in offshore waters. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List labels them a species of least concern, but also said that it does not know if their population is stable, increasing or declining.
To understand more about whether an outbreak is occurring or how great a risk it might be, West said the next step is to conduct antibody testing on Hawaiian dolphins and whales.
"Research involving antibody testing is first needed to understand if Hawaiian dolphins and whales may have acquired immunity through prior exposure to this virus," she said.
Researchers study a Fraser's dolphin. UH Health and Stranding Lab
Human Intervention
One way that concerned individuals can help scientists learn more about Hawaii's dolphins and whales is by reporting any strandings to the state's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA's) Marine Wildlife Hotline at 1(888) 256-9840, a University of Hawaii press release advised.
NOAA is also working to protect a different species from morbillivirus with the first ever vaccination program against the disease in marine mammal populations. This program targets endangered Hawaiian monk seals, who are vaccinated while sleeping on the beach.
"A similar mass vaccination program for whales or dolphins that live an entirely aquatic lifestyle would be much more difficult," West acknowledged to EcoWatch.
While human researchers are working to understand and counteract the morbillivirus threat, human activity generally does not play a known role in spreading the virus among whales and dolphins in the wild, West said.
However, Hodgins noted that diseases like these are another argument against whale and dolphin captivity.
"Keeping them confined in captivity is a sure fire way to ensure the spread of this disease," she said. "If for example there were an outbreak within a captive facility it would likely infect all those contained."
The spill was likely caused by a leak in a pipeline operated by Beta Offshore, about five miles from the coast of Orange County, NBC4 Los Angeles reported. It has shuttered beaches from Huntington Beach south to Laguna, and oil has entered the ecologically important Talbert Marshlands. As of Monday, four oiled birds had been recovered and one, a brown pelican, had to be euthanized.
But for environmental advocates and politicians, the spill is more than a local tragedy. Instead, it represents the hazards posed by fossil-fuel extraction, and offshore oil drilling in particular.
"Big Oil's offshore drilling puts the health of our communities, our local economies, and our planet at risk," Representative Katie Porter, whose district lies adjacent to Huntington Beach, tweeted in response. "Cleaning up this spill is not enough; we need to stop these disasters from happening in the first place."
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) further pointed out that offshore drilling in California relies on aging infrastructure. The spill occurred on a drilling platform called Platform Elly, which was built four decades ago. In 1999, its operator was fined for another spill.
"I've seen the aging oil platforms off Huntington Beach up close, and I know it's past time to decommission these time bombs," CBD oceans program director Miyoko Sakashita said in a statement. "Even after fines and criminal charges, the oil industry is still spilling and leaking into California's coastal waters. The only solution is to shut this dirty business down."
A sign at Huntington Beach warns against entering the water following a major oil spill in Orange County. Center for Biological Diversity
This isn't the first time that California's oil industry has harmed its unique coastal wildlife. In 2015, the failure of the Plains All American Pipeline's coastal oil pipeline caused the Refugio Oil Spill. This disaster leaked more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil, most of which ended up in the ocean where it killed fish, birds and marine mammals, according to NOAA. The pipeline owner was found criminally responsible by a jury in 2018, and since then seven offshore drilling platforms in the state have been shuttered, CBD reported.
However, the history of the oil industry's devastation in California goes back further than that. The site of the Huntington Beach spill isn't far from the 1969 Santa Barbara spill, The AP noted.
This disaster was caused by a blowout on the Union Oil offshore drilling platform that spilled around 3.5 million to 4.2 million gallons of crude into the Santa Barbara Channel, making it the third largest oil spill in U.S. history. The spill killed thousands of birds and drew attention to how little say local communities had in the use of their waters. The incident helped inspire the first Earth Day, but now activists worry that not enough has changed.
"It's frustrating that spills like this keep happening," Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney Damon Nagami told The AP. "I grew up near here, so this feels really personal."
While there are steps that can be taken to better regulate offshore drilling, environmental advocates ultimately argue that the best way to prevent oil spills is also the best way to solve the climate crisis: stop relying on fossil fuels.
"This spill is yet another reminder that we can have healthy and safe communities, thriving coastal economies, and a stable climate — or we can continue drilling for oil. We can't have both," Monica Embrey, senior associate director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement. "It's long past time to choose a transition away from dirty oil drilling and toward a healthier, safer, clean energy future."
A veterinarian examines a sanderling, a small shore bird brought to the Huntington Beach Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center on Oct. 4, 2021 due to the oil spill. Mindy Schauer / MediaNews Group / Orange County Register via Getty Images
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