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What is Ocean Acidification?
The ocean naturally absorbs some of the CO2 in earth’s atmosphere, however this is process is now jeopardizing the health of the ocean and the creatures that depend on it. Since the Industrial Revolution more and more CO2 is released into our atmosphere. Every day, 22 million tons of carbon dioxide from factories, cars, power plants and other human sources are absorbed by the world’s oceans (3). That amounts to roughly a third of the CO2 we release every year (6). There are many misconceptions that this process is beneficial because it reduces the amount of pollution in our air, however, the ocean cannot endure the increased amount of CO2 because it is changing the natural chemistry of the ocean. The vast increase in the ocean’s uptake of CO2 is lowering the pH of our world’s ocean making it far more acidic(5).
By Sarah McAmis