Scientific academies have joined forces to stress the dangers of ocean acidification to world leaders. The Interacademy Panel on International Issues (IAP), which has members representing 69 countries, issued a statement today recommending that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change recognize the threats posed by ocean acidification, in time for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.
Researchers are worried that as the world’s industries spew carbon dioxide into the air, the oceans are absorbing a quarter of emissions, increasing their acidity and harming marine life. “Ocean acidification is a distinct problem” from climate change and may require distinct solutions, says James Wilsdon, director of the Science Policy Centre at the Royal Society in the United Kingdom, one of IAP’s member academies. Wilsdon notes that if atmospheric carbon dioxide can be stabilized at 450 ppm, one possible target that has been discussed by politicians, only 8% of existing tropical and subtropical coral reefs will still be in waters at the right pH level to support their growth: “Negotiators need to be aware of this,” he says.
—Claire Thomas
We cannot change you O Great Lord Poseidon?!
Really? Not with the Great pacific Garbage patch with it's photodegrading toxins, not with the ever-expanding oxygen-free dead zones, now larger than several countries and expected to expand even more. Not by turning your very essence against the coral and crustaceans who dwell within you forcing their shells to dissolve and wither? Neither long line catch, nor trawl net, can deplete your bounty or blight your fragile beauty?
We should be so lucky, for if so there would be no need to save whales or tuna, no need to look at sustainable fishing, no concern for ocean acidification. Our problems would indeed be a drop in the ocean.
We are small in biomass o great lord Poseidon, but we have reshaped this planet to serve our purpose. We have leveled mountains, destroyed plains, and isolated wild forests into small preserves. The Gods of the wild-lands are no more; these lands too were once thought vast and their supplies limitless. Unfortunately, Lord Poseidon, they were not, and neither are your oceans. Be wary and advocate reason and restraint, lest you join the long list of gods to fall victim to our progress.
We surely cannot eliminate the oceans in their entirety. But that does not mean we cannot turn them into wastes.
The report on my imminent death is premature. I have been sloshing around in the basins on the crust for four billion years. I cover nearly 71 per cent of the planet. Since the last ice I have lifted myself out of the basin by 120 metres and scared the tribes of Noah to the high ground. During deep time, I became the universal solvent for the volcanoes and the clouds. I have given man the salt in his blood. Your CO2 output is infinitesimally small. I have absorbed as much gas as I need to maintain balance with the organic world within me and on land. The exchange is so peaceful that science calls it equilibrium. I can absorb more CO2, if the plants do not need it, and it does not give me acid imbalance. My pH will remain basic no matter what you say. The variations you measure have come and gone many uncountable times on the planet and your baseline is too small to know the truth. What you do not get is that warming of the oceans releases CO2 and other gasses from my water, while cooling my water allows me to take up CO2 in vast amounts to nestle with the other molecules in my coldest most remote realms. I can absorb all that man can produce because your impact is feeble compared to my capacity.
Please watch me with humility for you cannot change me. I am the ongoing sink for the planet, and I am huge and my heat content is beyond your estimation. Measure me here and there with your microscopes but know that I will never be that way in that place again. Open your mind to the infinite cycles of chemistry and physics and kneel on my beach. You can only hurt me by not respecting my infinite ability to change chemistry and temperature in all the corners of the seas. My CO2 feeds your plants and your plants provide all the oxygen you breathe. Your base line is infinitesimally small yet your mouth is wide open. Please stop sending me your plastic water bottles.
Poseidon