Human Impacts on the Environment

Currently there is no saturation level above four in the world. If current trends continue, by 2060, there will be no location above 3.5 and by 2100, no place above 3. The negative trends are extremely concerning as the changing water levels are making the reefs’ survival more unlikely. The energy required for calcification increase, and thus calcification rates decrease. Because of the lack of growth, coral diversity plunges. Over half a million species have spent their life on coral reefs. Coral reefs are intricate exchange bazaars that pass nutrients to various animals. Without the reefs, this exchange would not be possible and the abating of the reefs contributes to the disappearance of the ecosystem as a whole. While ocean acidification is not the only reason for the withering reefs, it is the most detrimental. The effect of ocean acidification extends beyond just the coral reefs. This process affects marine animals’ tightly regulated internal chemistry such as metabolism, enzyme activity, and protein function. Ocean acidification alters the presence of key nutrients such as iron and nitrogen essential to animals. It will also make the ocean noisier (Kolbert 136-141). The implications of ocean acidification are interminable. Human realization is imperative to slow the rate at which ocean saturation is declining. The less carbon emissions released in the air, the less carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean which will inadvertently prove beneficial to the coral reefs, but also many other species dependent on the

G., Cong-Qiang, L., WeiDong, Z., Minella, M., Vione, D., Kunshan, G., & ... Hiroshi, S. (2016). Reviews and Syntheses: Ocean acidification and its potential impacts on marine ecosystems. Biogeosciences, 13(6), 1767. doi:10.5194/bg-13-1767-2016

This increase in oceanic inorganic carbon has offset the seawater carbonate chemistry by causing increasing concentrations of CO2 and bicarbonate, while causing decreasing concentrations of carbonate and pH levels (Dedmer 2013). Rost and colleagues (2008) express that emissions of fossil fuel have caused an immense increase in the levels of atmospheric CO2, which are then deposited into the surface water of oceans. This increase in carbonic acid is in turn decreasing the pH balance, which poses a threat to marine organisms.

The ocean is a very delicate ecosystem in which the slightest change of pH or chemical composition will result in devastating results. Between 25 and 40% of anthropogenic carbon emissions have entered the marine area since the industrial age (Sabine et

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

This lab closely looks into the current cause of ocean acidification on actual marine organisms, specifically rice coral and sea urchin skeleton. The lab also proves how the two organisms are starting to deteriorate and change as carbon dioxide levels emit into the ocean and alter the ocean’s chemistry. The lab specifically compares the issue by monitoring the pH level, the general hardness level of calcium, and the carbonate hardness level. It is with this lab that proves how the pH level, the general hardness level of calcium, and the carbonate hardness levels in the ocean water are negatively affected by climate change factors that cause ocean acidification. This results in harming marine organisms such as rice coral and sea urchin skeleton.

Wealth plays a big part in manipulation. People or countries with money seem to be in control. This is because they have the best of everything, if its technology, equipment, lawyers, anything you can think of they are going to have it and win. In Animal farm money doesn't play a role but in terms of manipulation to those who don't have power it certainly does! In the books situation the pigs would be the ones with all the money living the high life.The fortunate people with money have access to everything and have the benefits of warm clothes, a roof over our heads, a meal to come home to every night and medicine to help us get better when we are sick. In third world countries such as Africa and the Philippines people only have limited access

About half of that man-made CO2 has been absorbed by the oceans, increasing the concentration of carbonic acid, which has caused the oceans to become more acidic. Over the past 300 million years, ocean pH has averaged about 8.2. Today, it is around 8.1, a 25% increase in acidity over the past two centuries. That increase is projected to reach 150% by the end of this century, a rate of change not seen in 65 million years. A more acidic ocean inhibits shell growth in marine animals such as corals, crustaceans and mollusks, and disrupts entire food chains all the

This report is focused on Ocean acidification and it’s lowering of seawater PH levels that results from a continuing in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. There are potentially adverse biological and ecological consequences occurring now and in the future results of this process.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that we exhale in our daily lives. Plants use carbon dioxide to create oxygen that all mammals use. However, carbon dioxide can also change the chemistry of the ocean, this is often referred to as ocean acidification. The excess carbon dissolves into oxygen in the water, producing a chemical called carbonic acid. This acid causes the ocean to become more acidic. In the eighteenth century, the pH was 8.07 which was slightly basic. Currently, the pH is around 8.01 this is about a twenty-five percent increase in acidity. (National geographic) While this slight change may not seem outrageous, it is causing multiple marine life struggles. The acid melts the shells of pteropods causing a low supply of food that would support larger fish.

A burden which lays on the shoulders of today’s man is that of climate change, namely, global warming. However, this evil has many ignored byproducts, some which are equally detrimental. In this thesis, we will write about the effects of one of the greatest of this, ocean acidification, known as “global warming’s equally evil twin”.

Ocean Acidification is, excess carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. All of ocean acidification happens underwater; that is why it is unseeable and unfeelable. When coal, oil, and gas release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, it dissolves into the ocean. The ocean has absorbed approximately, 525 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Scientists once believed that, when the carbon dioxide (CO2) entered the atmosphere and dispersed into the ocean, it left less carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air to warm planet Earth. But, they quickly learned that the ocean's chemistry was changing.

3) Due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the world's oceans are 30% more acidic now than before the industrial revolution. Cold oceans, like those in the Arctic, are acidifying twice as fast as average impacting coral reefs, shellfish and plankton to name a few.

According to Ocean Portal, “in the past 200 years alone, ocean water has become 30 percent more acidic”. The rapid growth of acidity within the oceans is dramatically impacting ecosystems- even the shells of animals are disintegrating in the acid contaminated seawater.

Ocean acidification is the process of the ocean becoming more acidic, or dropping on the pH scale. Another name for this process is ocean de-basification because seawater is actually a basic substance, so the “acidification” is seawater dropping to a more neutral pH. Despite what you call it, it is agreed that this activity results in negative consequences for both our environment as well as the creatures in it. This paper will be looking at the causes of ocean acidification, the effects of it, and what society can do in an attempt to stop it.