Ocean Acidification

I know climate change is a controversial topic but most people have heard of it, no matter your personal stance.  Often I find that not everyone has heard of ocean acidification.  Ocean acidification is what is in its name, the ocean is pretty much too acidic.  You might be asking yourself, does it change anything for us?  Well, yes it does and here is how it does.

The ocean covers approximately 70% of the earth's surface and that water is just taking in all of this CO2.  It absorbs about a third of human made carbon dioxide and that is a lot, approximately 20 million tons of it on a daily basis.  During the Industrial Revolution, from 1760 to about 1820-1840, we transitioned to using more machines.  We started using more iron production, steam power, chemical manufacturing, and factories.  These things became very popular and started to have an impact on the acidity of the ocean.  

The ocean is approximately 30% more acidic than it use to be, since the Industrial Revolution.  The ocean being too acidic is ruining the ocean's ecosystems.  A lot of the world relies on the ocean for survival.  People rely on the ocean for food, money, and to keep us safe.  Coral reefs protect the coastlines from flooding and erosion.  So without these reefs, that means more flooding and coastline erosion.  In different parts of the world coral reefs are dying.  The water is too acidic so they are having difficulty forming their shells, the reefs are being bleached from warmer temperatures, and you can even say that some coral reefs are basically "cooking".

The ocean being too acidic is a real problem and one that harms not only the species living in the sea, but us as well.  We can make a change and help out our environment.  Reducing Your Carbon Footprint