#12 Acidification

Acidification, or the changing of the pH to a more acid chemistry is happening in our oceans. I few years ago I heard a lecture on the amount of CO2 from emissions going into the atmosphere. At that point it was 700 billion tons a year. The oceans are the earths natural sponges for CO2 and they were at the time absorbing 500 billion tons, leaving 200 billion floating up into the atmosphere. Since that lecture it seems the balance of our oceans is becoming gradually more acidic. Who cares you might be thinking, but in truth it does ultimately effect you and the rest of us. What this new chemistry balance is doing is affecting any sea creature with a shell. That includes the krill whose shells are not developing with the strength needed for the creatures to survive to adulthood. They are the main source of food for the whales and feed a multitude of other sea life as well. They are the bottom of the food chain. The new chemistry is also effecting the coral reefs, weakening their structural integrety and ultimately will reduce them to slimy rubble. Right now they protect a huge number of land masses from the harch onslaught of the ocean's force and are the nursery habitats for baby sea life.
This piece is about the dying coral reefs and the fish food chain ending with our fork.