Vision
Carbon dioxide is very important for the climate, because rising carbon dioxide in the air is a main driver of the warming of the planet. It is also very important for the ocean, because the sea absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, and rising carbon dioxide lowers seawater pH and carbonate ion concentration, which reduces aragonite saturation.
Cutting carbon dioxide emissions is very important for the climate and for limiting ocean acidification. It would not, on its own, remove the black carbon, persistent pollutants that dissolve in fat, and plastic that are already in the ocean, or repair any damage to the microlayer, the thin skin at the surface of the ocean, because those materials act through biogeochemical and ecotoxicological pathways that are distinct from those of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is not the only stress on marine life. An interpretive synthesis of documented declines places marine animal life at about 35 to 54% of its 1850 level, and most of that loss was recorded before acidification became a factor, so acidification, which rising carbon dioxide drives, is now acting on a system that fishing, whaling, habitat loss, pollution and climate disruption had already depleted.
Plankton are the planet's true lungs and our life support system.
We now understand the problem, and with that understanding, we can see solutions.
Coral reefs are dying all over the world; 50% of the Great Barrier Reef is dead, and the rest is severely stressed. 90% of the coral in the Caribbean has died, as have the majority of the fish. Sargassum, which contains arsenic and heavy metals, pollutes the fish breeding grounds in mangrove swamps.
Coral, mangroves, and wetlands provide a nursery ground for more than 25% of all fish and marine life.
Aragonite saturation measures how easily marine animals can build and maintain shells and skeletons of aragonite, which is a form of calcium carbonate. Aragonite dissolves below a saturation of 1, and the authors regard values between 1.6 and 1 as a marginal zone in which sensitive shell-building animals begin to suffer. Judged against reference thresholds that the authors chose for each ocean zone, and that are higher in warmer water, about 44% of the mapped ocean surface sat below its own winter threshold in the 2022 to 2024 winters. That figure stays between 37 and 52% under every zone layout the authors tested, and falling below a threshold marks risk and does not measure harm directly.
Mission statement
Pollution of our atmosphere, soil, freshwater, and oceans is viewed as a cost by governments and industry, with no benefit to shareholders. Water companies believe that dilution in the oceans is the solution to pollution because how can you pollute something as vast as the world's oceans?
Pollution cannot be solved through dilution because some chemicals do not dissolve in water but instead become concentrated on particles such as plastic and carbon from the combustion of fossil fuels. These toxic chemicals accumulate in the particles.
Our plankton paper, a preliminary survey that was under review at the journal Ocean Science in October 2026, suggests that reducing marine pollution may protect the biological productivity of the ocean and may support ecosystem recovery in a way that complements cutting carbon dioxide emissions, although the survey itself did not test this idea.
So, what's the answer?
To protect Nature and allow it to regenerate, we must eliminate pollution at all levels.
GOES' mission is to prevent pollution from entering the world's oceans and to provide appropriate solutions.
More than 80% of the world's population does not have access to wastewater treatment. Water is biologically treated in Europe, North America, and other high-income countries, but there is no tertiary treatment to remove microplastics and toxic chemicals. The sludge is then dumped on farmland or landfill sites, resulting in no treatment and only diffuse pollution.
Given that rural communities account for 80% of global pollution, this is where we are focusing our efforts with GOES and the implementation of our EDEN CYCLE wastewater treatment system in conjunction with the CAFE filter for final waste water treatment and drinking water provision.
All of the technology is OPEN Source; it's not about GOES making money; it's about providing a solution that has the potential to save our souls on the verge of perdition.
Cutting carbon dioxide emissions is very important, and reducing marine pollution is a complementary action.