What´s Ocean Acidification?

“Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day” (Ocean Portal, n.d). This number is expected to increase forevermore as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase and the effects of Climate Change worsen. At first, the idea of our oceans absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound great, however, scientists have been quick to learn otherwise. High concentrations of carbon dioxide in oceans can have detrimental effects on the ocean chemistry and marine ecosystems (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Marine ecosystems are greatly complex and depend on every marine organism to function properly, any change can put the whole ecosystem at risk. For example, the increase of carbon dioxide in our oceans is responsible for the dissolving of “brittle star” skeletal parts, which has in effect caused food scarcity for many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other starfish (Leu, 2013). Furthermore, these marine ecosystems are very important to humans- being the primary food source for millions around the world and having an economic market worth trillions of dollars (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Part of keeping these ecosystems safe is to understand how they work and how projected changes can harm marine organisms.

Ocean Acidification is a process that occurs everyday and majorly affects our planet, but most people don’t even realize it exists. Though it can technically be argued that Ocean Acidification has some benefits for the planet, most of the time the effects of this process are very poor and negatively affect the entire world around us. Human evolution has played a major role in contributing to Ocean Acidification. Whenever humans use energy we release Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere or also known as CO2. This can be in the form of burning fossil fuels from the ground or the removal of national forest by burning. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means whenever we can emit it in large quantities or unnatural amounts it can have negative effects on the atmosphere. These high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere result in climate change and more specifically Ocean Acidification. Ocean Acidification occurs when excess Carbon Dioxide is absorbed into the ocean. When this process takes place it can completely disturb the chemical balances of the water. For example, it can reduce pH levels, Biodiversity, and the abundance of calcifying species.

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, mankind has slowly increased the total greenhouse gas emissions that enter the atmosphere. Over time, this pollution began to add up. Now planet Earth is struggling to maintain its health with the combined forces of global warming and ocean acidification looking to bring demise. From all portions of the world, troubling changes are emerging in the chemistry of our oceans’ waters. The oceans takes in around a quarter of the Carbon Dioxide that mankind releases into the atmosphere every year, so as atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels rise, so do the

dissolve the shells and exoskeletons it could even burn all the fossil fuels. The atmospheric carbon dioxide is in equilibrium with dissolved carbon dioxide in seawater. A quarter to a third of all human-created carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean.

“How acidification threatens ocean from the inside out: Carbon dioxide emissions are making the oceans more acidic, imperiling the growth and reproduction of species from plankton to squid”, by Marah J. Hardt and Carl Safina addresses the dangers of increasing acidity in the ocean caused by carbon dioxide. Hardt, a research scientist and writer, is the founder of Ocean Ink. Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, is the founding president of the Blue Ocean Institute.

The ocean absorbs up to 30% of the Carbon Dioxide which is released into the world.

With emissions from cars and deforestation at an all time high, so is the amount of carbon dioxide being dissolved into the world’s oceans. There are seemingly endless things people could be doing to help stop this, but don’t. This is because ocean acidification is one of the least advocated problems. Ocean acidification is one of the largest factors affecting today’s oceans and affects every ocean organism.

Sometimes called “climate change’s equivalently destructive twin”, ocean acidification is becoming more and more noticeable as the seawater’s changing chemistry begins to cause environmental and economical problems. When the Industrial Revolution began around 1760, fossil fuel–powered machines gained an immense amount of accessibility and popularity. Since then, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere have risen enough to change the pH of the world’s oceans. Given that the ocean absorbs almost half of the CO2 that is released into our atmosphere, ocean acidification is inclining into an even greater problem as fossil fuels become a more common energy source in our society. Higher acid levels can harm wildlife, disrupt the food chain, and negatively impact industries that rely on the ocean for business. Ocean acidification is causing growing dilemmas for both marine ecosystems and ocean-based economies. Although many companies and organizations are attempting to fix this problem, acidification is still threatening to cause increasingly harmful issues for the future.

The Ocean is our main life source and it is changing by the people throwing things away or the climate ruining it. What happens when we destroy is the earth life system is getting destroyed too. What we don’t realize is that we are nature, we’re connected with nature industrial evalution nation turned as a resource. All this farming that people are doing and the carbon that is being made are making ocean dead zones. All the warm ocean causes it to increase the carbon dioxide. For example What does different concentrations of acid do to shells? When CO2 is absorbed by seawater chemical reactions occur that reduce seawater pH levels. Calcium carbonate minerals are the buildings blocks for the skeletons and shells of many marine life. My hypothesis

In Schnoor’s Article, the Environmental Science & Technology Journal urges scientists and other peer-reviewed articles to publish their findings about mitigating ocean acidification. Schnoor believes that we are heading in the right direction with new tech adoptions like low-flow toilets and energy efficient systems, but he also believes we have a long way to go. He states that we need to do more to prevent further ocean acidification and devastating effects it

ocean’s eco-system that we wouldn’t be forced to adjust to prosper in a safe and effective way of survival. An organization once stated that, “the air that you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, the products that keep you warm, safe, informed, and entertained — all can come from or be transported by the ocean, you hurt it is, its just going to hurt you back,” (Protect Plant Ocean). That quote relates back to this, ocean acidification is a socio- ecological system that will have to carry out the repercussions of being universal, evidently supported and complex. It is a wicked problem that will be hard to turn around and what our society is doing is we are learning how to deal with the effects by having the ability to survive without

Several decades ago, in the atmosphere carbon dioxide levels did not match emissions caused by fossil fuel burning. The ocean contains 50 times more carbon than the air. Christopher Sabine states, “The ultimate take home message for this is whether we live 1,000 yards from the beach or a 1,000 miles from the shore, we are all having a profound impact on the global ocean and the creatures that live there.” (Sabine 2012). In this paper, I’m going to describe the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, the impact of rising CO2 on the ocean, and suggesting things that we can do to help.

As earth’s carbon dioxide levels are expected to continue to grow in an exponential fashion they will, ultimately, facilitate large shifts in seawater carbonate chemistry (Doney, Fabry, Feely, & Kleypas, 2008). It has been shown that surplus amounts of atmospheric CO2 decreases the pH level in oceans- disrupting the delicate balance of the stable acidity levels that have maintained the rich and varied web of life in today’s seas (Kleypas & Yates, 2009). This phenomenon is referred to as ocean acidification and is predicted to have rapid and devastating consequences to entire marine ecosystems.

Ocean acidification is probably the main issue on Earth because it affects the entire planet. We’re blowing all this Carbone Dioxide into the atmosphere that enters into the Ocean and changes the seawater chemistry. I am pretty sure that is we continue on this track many species which lives in the ocean will one day, disappear. Twenty one percent of the air in our atmosphere is oxygen which animal need to survive. At least half of our oxygen comes from phytoplankton in the ocean. We can turn this around, we have the ability on our hand and we are not doing anything. In a hundred years, this planet can be gone. Most of the previous

The world we live in is so vast and exciting. Seventy percent of our world is liquid water we call the ocean. In the ocean there are many creatures that each are unique in their own way. However, it is possible that in our lifetime, many marine organisms will become endangered or possibly extinct. The loss of these mejestic marine creatures will be caused mainly because of human advancements in which fossil fuels are used to produce energy. Biodiversity is greatly affected by this increase in acidity. As the ocean acidifies, multiple social and economic issues arise. As humans, we rely on the ocean for almost everything. Much of our food, clothing, cleaning products and cosmetics come from the ocean. With the loss of