From deep-sea mining to clashes over migrants, it’s shaping up to be a year of blue issues

By David Helvarg | Jan 6 2022

The ocean is in trouble, and people know it. The last major survey on public attitudes, conducted two years ago, found 73 percent of Americans thought the ocean’s condition had worsened in the previous decade. Asked what the major threats are, however, they tended to focus on a few familiar issues such as plastic pollution (96 percent), offshore oil drilling (74 percent), and industrial overfishing (70 percent). 

Yet many other problems trouble our blue planet. Some—rising sea levels, more frequent coastal flooding, and intensified hurricanes—break down the distinction between climate and ocean issues. Here are 10 further emerging blue issues that you’ll be seeing in the news in 2022.

Read more in Sierra Club Magazine.