Giving Compass' Take:

• Jenny Seifert discusses the various ways that humans are impacting the world's oceans including climate change and pollution. 

• How can you address the impact humans have on oceans? 

• Learn more about ocean acidification. 

Over the recent decade, total human impacts to the world’s oceans have, on average, nearly doubled and could double again in the next decade without adequate action, researchers say.

A new study in Scientific Reports assesses for the first time where the combined impacts that humans are having on oceans—including things like nutrient pollution and overfishing—are changing and how quickly.

In nearly 60% of the ocean, the cumulative impacts are increasing significantly and, in many places, at a pace that appears to be accelerating.

“That creates even more urgency to solve these problems,” says lead author Ben Halpern, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).

Climate change is a key factor driving the increase across the world, as seas warm, acidify, and rise. On top of that, commercial fishing, runoff from land-based pollution, and shipping are intensifying progressively each year in many areas of the ocean.

Read the full article about the world's oceans by Jenny Seifert at Futurity.