In addition to the famous impacts of atmospheric carbon on global warming, there is an equally worrisome effect of carbon dioxide on the oceans: ocean acidification (or OA for short). Here at I2SEA we have a series of resources about OA, including Our Acidifying Ocean, which is an introductory activity and virtual lab (note: now mobile compatible!).
A student suggested that we start a conversation topic about OA, and here it is! Have you heard about Ocean Acidification? If so, are you worried about it? How do you think we can best raise awareness about it among your fellow students and the general public? Have you seen particularly good links or films about OA that you would like to share? What are you doing to address the problem?
Ocean Acidification >
Don’t forget that the life began in water!
If we were to analyze the picture I sent, we should take into account the fact that humans are heading straight to the left part of the picture, as we do too much harm to the oceans. Although the nature tries to counterattack our unconsciousness, it does not win every time. Water bears a crucial role in the ecosystem, but few people realize that and I want to remind to everyone how good is to have water.
First and foremost, water is in our bodies in an amount varying from 50% to 75%, depending on our age, then we have the water cycle in nature, the plants and animals (including people) need water to survive. It has been proved that people can survive without food up to 2-3 days in a row, but without water just a few hours. I forgot to mention the importance of water in industrial fields, as we are not capable of carrying out certain activities, but what are we doing to the water? We throw garbage, we emanate huge amounts of carbon dioxide everyday, thus increasing the acidity making the life of hundreds of species tougher and so on. This is how we respect the water… It’s really sad… What we touch, we kill… I want to do something about this issue, but I don’t know how to make people listen and do the right thing, because I am aware of the fact that most of them will only listen and reject the part where they have to do something… It looks like it is in our nature to be procrastinate, to be insensitive to real problems.
[Ocean-acidification-17-638](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:NrFe:oceanacidification17638.jpg.jpg)
I think this is a great reminder for everyone, although someone can specifically analyze the issues in the ocean down to the molecular level regarding ocean acidification, it is important to remember that water is absolutely essential for life. Conserving the water we have and use is extremely important, personally I live in California where we have been in a serious drought. We have started to come out of it, and some people even argue that it is over; while it was still going though I was very worried about my state and community. Water is essential for human life and the environment, without it there could be no life and the area would die. Water is vital and people need to realize that even if you do have enough water where you come from, there are tons of places throughout the world where there is not enough water for people due to issues caused by global warming.