BBC: The Purple Urchins Feeding California
Since 2014, the Sonoma and Mendocino coast has lost 90% of its bull kelp forest due to climate change. Interestingly, the solution to the crisis may involve eating purple sea urchin.
The Mendocino coast is a rugged stretch of Northern California. Redwood trees tower above fern understories with streams running through them, pouring down waterfalls into ocean coves filled with wave-worn boulders. The glorious views from Highway 1, a two-lane road that serpentines along this roiling coast, tell little of the environmental disaster occurring underwater.
Since 2014, the Sonoma and Mendocino coast has lost more than 90% of its bull kelp forest due to warming waters caused by climate change, according to a 2019 study. These kelp forests shelter and feed a whole host of other marine life; losing them could mean an ecosystem cascade that would devastate many species and local economies.