Now, more Capitalis In Hot Water: The devastatin

By Oisin Hill

“THE OCEAN is hotter than ever, what happens next?,” begins a news article published in May of this year by Nature, the world's leading scientific journal. 2023 has seen the surface temperature of the ocean rise to its highest since records began, leading to marine heatwaves across the globe and exceeding the predictions of many climate models. Here in Ireland, the ocean surface temperature was recorded as being 4-6°C above average for June with even higher temperatures on the horizon for later this Summer.

Devastating impact

The planet’s oceans have absorbed 90% of the heat resulting from greenhouse gases in recent decades. The significant shift in global ocean temperatures, which is being exacerbated by the El Niño climate event in the equatorial pacific ocean, is bringing disastrous consequences for people and ecosystems.

Ocean warming accelerates sea level rise - water expands at higher temperatures, hotter polar oceans speed up the rate of melting sea ice, adding yet more water into the world's oceans and threatening the homes and lives of millions across the planet.

Extreme weather events are becoming both more frequent and more intense as a result of ocean warming and climate change in general. This year has already seen record heat waves in the southwestern United States and in southern Europe. People in Italy are being hit particularly with a road worker in Milan dying of heatstroke on the job and many more outdoor workers unable to work or having underlying health problems exacerbated by the heat. Heatwaves like this, along with other extreme weather events, are threatening to kill and displace more and more people across the world and will continue to do so as long as we live in a system that prioritises profit over human life and planetary health.

Despite this, the world’s largest fossil