[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/EW-08-14-12-Acid-Oceans.mp3|titles=EW 08-14-12 Acid Oceans]
Many of our modern habits result in emitting excess carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Transportation, utilities, and manufacturing all rely heavily on fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas.
By now, most of us know that our fossil fuel dependency is driving global climate change, leaving us vulnerable to rising sea levels, heat waves, and shifts in water availability, among other things.
Ocean acidification is an impact that receives less media attention.
Currently, about a third of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean, where it is converted to carbonic acid. The rise in human emissions is correlated with a rise in the amount of carbon the ocean absorbs.
We are fortunate to be living on the blue planet. Without our ocean, climate change would be occurring at an accelerated pace. But the ocean pays a price for buffering our emissions.
Earlier this year in the scientific journal Nature, an international team of scientists concluded that our fossil fuel emissions have pushed the acidity of seawater far above the range of the natural variability that existed for thousands of years.
As the ocean acidifies, it will be less hospitable to crustaceans, mollusks, corals, and other sea creatures that produce shells, plates, or structures made out of calcium carbonate.
Do any of us want to imagine a sea shore without seashells? Or restaurants without clam chowder? We need to turn the tide on ocean acidification – or at the very least slow the progression – so that sea life has a chance at adaptation.
Web Link
Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE1372
Photo, taken on April 6, 2006, courtesy of Matt McGee via Flickr.