Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere
The atmosphere is a combination of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide. Recently, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been swiftly rising. We are not currently facing Apollo 13 style asphyxiation because carbon dioxide is captured by water to form carbonic acid. As it happens, the oceans of planet Earth are made of water.
“Humankind Embarks on Ambitious Geoengineering Project”
Ergo, we are turning the world’s oceans into seltzer water! The results of such ocean acidification are devastating to the ocean’s inhabitants–as became tragically apparent this week when 10 million Canadian scallops died due to the rapidly dropping PH levels along the west coast of Canada. The shellfish farming company “Island Scallops” lost three year’s worth of scallop harvest when the PH dropped from 8.2 to 7.3 in their scallop beds of the Georgia Strait. Scallops have shells made of calcium carbonate—which dissolves in carbonic acid—so the creatures are unable to fight off predators and disease.
WHY?? They were so young…
Of course most scallops and other sea creatures are not owned by Canadian farmers—so nobody notices when they go missing (because they have perished…or dissolved). Most of the newspapers and news sites covering the scallop die-off have concentrated on what a blow the loss is to seafood lovers and fish farmers, but, it seems to me that this narrow financial approach ignores the fact that the majority of Earth’s surface is covered in ocean.
Of course acidification of the oceans is only one part of a combined attack: the poor oceans are also being overfished, polluted, and subject to rapid temperature changes. The oceans are the cradle of life, and they remain crucial to all life on the planet. Our amphibious ancestors climbed out of the sea long ago but the photosynthesizing algae that live there still remain critical to all life on Earth (unless you are an extremophile bacteria). These tiny creatures are part of a vast web of life which is being torn to pieces and destroyed. So join me in mourning the dead scallops.
Farewell to All That
6 comments
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March 4, 2014 at 12:36 AM
Edward Gross
Any ideas on what to do about acidification come out of this news? To move forward I think we need to act on what we see going on, but I don’t see a lot of solutions, mostly observations. And I dunno about you, but I would like to avoid saying, “farewell to all that”. Thanks for the great read!
March 4, 2014 at 1:01 AM
Wayne
Hi Ed (or do you go by Edward?). I agree with you that we can’t give up on the oceans of Earth! It makes me angry that people are so indifferent to ecosystems just because they are out of sight beneath the waves…but I guess I too am guilty of eating seafood and throwing away plastic and using electricity. Despite all the problems, there may be some solutions to help the ocean (other than the unrealistic idea of giving up on our fossil fuel economy), but they will need a great deal of international coordination and they are going to make a lot of fishermen angry. Here is an Economist book review of a book by Callum Roberts which proposes some solutions which humankind could implement.
March 4, 2014 at 1:56 AM
Edward Gross
Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out. In case its not in there, perhaps transplanting acid friendly corals (http://www.livescience.com/42814-coral-reefs-thrives-acidic-waters.html) to dying reefs might at least help stabilize some fish/coral communities in the short term too. Interesting how life adapts sometimes.
March 4, 2014 at 3:16 AM
Wayne
I heard about the Persian Gulf corals that can resist warm, polluted, acidic water–maybe they will be the progenitors of the coral of the future. I guess there is always this too (although it might be contributing to the problem rather than solving it).
March 4, 2014 at 11:40 AM
Edward Gross
Thanks for the extra info, have a good one!
March 4, 2014 at 1:56 AM
Edward Gross
(and Ed or Edward is fine)