One of my favorite weeks of the year is in the summer when The Discovery Channel dedicates a whole week to just sharks. I am fascinated by sharks so I wondered, are sharks being affected by this increase in climate? Not only is global warming affecting the lives living on land but also those that live in the oceans.
The article Sharks and Climate Change discusses how sharks are currently being impacted by global warming. The oceans around the world are warming. Sharks have the possibility to go extinct in the next hundred years because the increase in water temperature confuses and stresses out these sharks which make them unable to mate. Even though sharks are at the top of the food chain they are still being majorly affected since their food supply is starting to slowly disappear. Since these smaller fish are vanishing the food chain is most likely going to be upset. But overall sharks will most likely relocate to waters containing food sources, and that may include shallow waters off the coasts of many populated beaches.
Over the past few years there has been in increase of shark attacks across the globe. Sharks are moving more inland in places such as California and Florida due to the fact that the water temperature is increasing. Plus, the ocean temperatures are increasing making more people want to swim in these warmer waters. So are the sharks really to blame for their attacks? We are the ones causing global warming thus forcing the sharks to come inland. Sharks actually don’t find any interest in humans it is just their natural instinct to attack because we are the ones invading their home. Sharks are only doing what they fit is necessary to survive. Do we honestly have the right to complain about how dangerous sharks are when we are the ones causing the most damage to the planet?
The sad thing is we seem to blame everyone else when it comes to global warming. We often hear ‘this is just mother nature running its course’ or ‘its just a temporary’ but most of the time it isn’t. Everyday fossil fuel is burned and extracted which releases a mass amount of green house gases into the air. However, trees are able to take in a lot of the carbon dioxide released into the air along with other gases and turn it into oxygen. But deforestation is a common occurrence now. The loss of trees means there is an increase of heat trapping carbon dioxide in the air. We are the main contributors to global warming and no one really seems to realize that. Other species of life are being punished for our wrong doings, doesn’t that seem unfair? Maybe if people actually learned how they are destroying other forms of life they would feel more compelled to become greener. When I have a family of my own I want to be able to take them to aquariums and be able to show them marine life, but I am afraid that there will be nothing left in the aquarium tanks to show.
I like your title choice, especially when I learned that it was having to do with sharks who are always somehow labeled as being some of the most dangerous animals. It is interesting that climate change would be impacting their behavior pattern and in fact increasing shark attacks because of the amount of close contact between humans and sharks. Will this eventually result in less people going to the beach if there are higher concentrations of sharks closer to the shore? I hope not!
The last sentence of your post really intrigued me and got me thinking — what if one day I could only tell my children about sharks because they don’t exist anymore, even in aquariums? What would it be like to have to travel for miles and miles to visit the one aquarium that had in captivity “the last shark in the world” and then explain to the children why all the other sharks were gone? That could be a powerful and emotional fictional story!
Your post is extremely interesting and informative on the shark species. Never did I think that humans are the sole cause behind shark attack, I always thought sharks were just crazy and dangerous. I am really glad that you discuss this topic in your post and I also agree that humans need to do more research on how they are contributing to climate change and change their habits to stop the process.
I liked that you focused on the sharks and how that impacted you. Another thing that stood out to me was that you brought land, air and ocean all together. You talked about the green house gases with tress and also the ocean which gave a well rounded view on how everything is being affected.
I love that your post pointed out a different aspect of climate change, as the oceans are critically important to the planet, along with the creatures who live in it. People tend to focus on the aspects of climate change that only affect humans, but the oceans and creatures that live in it are drastically affected as well. The oceans are not only getting warmer, but they are becoming more acidic due to their absorption of excess carbon.
I agree that sharks are targeted as one of the most dangerous animals and I love that you brought up the fact that it is not their fault; it’s ours. I ran upon this website natureisspeaking.org for my blog entry and I feel the relation to your post in a way. Nature doesn’t need us, but humans need it. Nature has survived without us just fine and will continue too, even though we are destroying it. The ocean is just one of the many things we need and by our actions, we are not only hurting our chances, but other species as well.
The article you shared was both really interesting and scary to read. Sharks are fascinating and amazing creatures so it’s terrible to think that in the next one hundred years or so they could completely disappear. Even worse, they may disappear primarily because of human action.