1. What is the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and ocean acidity? In this regard, how have the oceans acted to slow atmospheric warming?

2. What food served in a local seafood restaurant may be connected directly to the loss of mangrove forests in the tropics?

3. Trace the connection between upwelling and ocean productivity. Why does upwelling occur more readily in cold polar waters? Explain why tropical ocean water has low phytoplankton productivity.

4. The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California publishes a Seafood Watch Pocket Guide that details how consumers can protect marine ecosystems by avoiding seafood caught using ecologically destructive fishing techniques. In your region, what are the “Best Choices” of seafood species? What species should be avoided?

5. Can you think of any other solutions to the plastic problem not proposed in Geographic Perspectives?