How much of the ocean is heavily polluted and which parts of Tassie will be covered in water as sea levels rise?
This is an interesting combination of questions. So, let’s start with ocean pollution. There are mainly five types of ocean pollution: increasing acidity of the ocean, addition of plastic waste, increasing concentration of chemicals, noise due to human activities and addition of toxic products. Each of these contributes in varying amounts to ocean pollution and threatens the marine environment and life. As of today, researchers have declared around 500 marine locations as dead zones (where marine life cannot survive) that covers approximately three and half times the area of Tasmania (245 thousand km2). We can reduce this by recycling day-to-day materials, reducing usage of plastic stuff, avoiding putting stuff that is not recommended to dump in our toilets, volunteering for beach cleaning activity etc. You can also learn other cool facts about the ocean pollution on this website.
In the case of sea level rise, I am delighted to inform you that Tassie is safer than other parts of the world. In 2016, CSIRO said to the Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet in their report that if will not do anything to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions then Tassie is expected to experience on average rise of 0.3 meters by 2050 and 0.8 meters by the end of this century compared to what it was in 2010. In this case, some parts of Tassie such as Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Burnie, Kingston, Bicheno, St Helens and Bruny Island are likely to experience reduction in their livable size. It is important to know that sea level change is a complicated process to understand. And its impact on our life depends on factors such as how often an area experiences an increase in local water level because of heavy rain, or tide or storms etc., for example. I hope this answers your questions.
