The participants from different environmental regulatory agencies, non-government groups and other community organizations gathered at the Garapan Fishing Base at 7 a.m. and urged passersby to join them.
Some walked, others rode bicycles while a few used their skates as the group headed to American Memorial Park where they watched a number of presentations on how the increasing level of carbon monoxide emission has adversely affected the entire planet.
Steven Johnson, Division of Environmental Quality biologist, in an interview said Moving Planet is a global event spearheaded by 350.org, an action-based international organization whose goal is to mobilize people and help reduce the level of CO2 or carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere.
The group’s name 350.org is derived from the ideal level of CO2 in the atmosphere: 350 parts per million or ppm.
Two years ago, the CNMI participated in this event by urging people to join car pools to reduce CO2 emission.
This year, Johnson said the event focused on informing people that the level of CO2 emission in the planet has already reached 391 ppm.
“Right now it is a ‘Noah analogy scenario.’ This means, if you go back in the history of the earth’s CO2 level, there’s nothing in the past that correlates to the level of emission we have today,” Johnson said.
He explained that the CO2 level could have been very low when the planet experienced hot temperature many years ago, If the planet will experience the same thing today it would be worse due to the higher level of CO2 emission.
Walking or biking at least one and a half mile last Saturday gave people an idea on what everybody could do to help reduce CO2 emission, he said, adding that the event was fun, healthy and environmentally enlightening.
“It was to show that we’re ready to move beyond fossil fuels. People did it all over the world,” Johnson said.
Coral reef
During the presentation at American Memorial Park, DEQ, the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance and Coastal Resources Management informed the participants how the high level of CO2 emission impacts the islands.
Besides climate change that may also alter storms patterns in the Pacific and result in stronger typhoons, one serious impact was on the marine resources crucial to the local tourism industry.
Johnson said an increased CO2 level makes earth warmer. The ocean gets warmer as well because it absorbs the heat. These changes, he said, adversely affect corals that are very sensitive to temperature.
Like humans, he said, corals can’t handle temperature that is either too high to too low. If it’s too hot, coral will suffer from bleaching. This is when coral loses its photosynthesis algae. It then starve and get sick.
About 10 to 11 years ago, Johnson said there was a massive bleaching event that happened worldwide due to an increased temperature in the atmosphere.
Many of the corals that were affected have not yet recovered, he added.
Marine biologist Peter Houk said the area of concern in the CNMI for thermal bleaching is the Saipan lagoon.
Right beyond the reef crest that breaks the wave into the lagoon, there used to be beautiful corals. But in 2000, Houk said, 50 percent of these live corals were lost.
Johnson said although Saipan is just a small island, “we can do our best to take care of our home.”
