Ocean Acidification

Carbon dioxide from air pollution is being absorbed by the ocean causing acidification. Not good, because this is altering the ocean’s makeup and while the damaging effects are still reversible eventually they won’t be. The changes due to the carbon dioxide resulting from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas are happening faster than at any other time in human history. Instead of lush, colorful, marine life filled coral reefs the ocean’s floor in areas damaged by acidification due to the absorption of carbon dioxide look like lifeless slimy lake bottoms. Billions of oysters along the Washington coast have already been killed and other shellfish have been destroyed too. Plankton in Antarctica is dissolving because carbon dioxide mixed with water becomes corrosive and erodes exoskeletons of some animals and robs the water of the ingredients needed to grow shells in the first place. Another effect of carbon dioxide’s acidification along with the decline of coral reef is the increase in sea grasses and an even greater increase in red tide toxicity. The bottom line is that since the dawning of the industrial revolution there has been a 30% increase in ocean acidification and 15% or the increase has occurred since the 1990’s. Changes that were thought by scientists to be half a century off in the future have occurred much more quickly, within the last five years. It appears to me that there is a lot more to global warming than just changes in the weather.