OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

The world’s oceans are in trouble. Every day, 22 million tons of carbon dioxide from factories, cars, power plants and other human sources are absorbed by the world’s oceans.

The result? A frightening phenomenon that’s making seawater more acidic, spelling potential disaster for many marine animals, from plankton and coral up the food chain to sea stars, salmon, sea otters, whales — and ultimately people, who rely on oceans for food.

Since the Industrial Revolution, oceans have become 30 percent more acidic because of the carbon pollution we’re pumping into the atmosphere. We’re already seeing the effects as coral reefs collapse, oyster beds disappear and tiny creatures that are important food sources get smaller and smaller.

Click here to learn how some species are already being harmed by ocean acidification . . . and how others will be soon.

Shell-forming species like corals, crabs, oysters and urchins are getting hit first because ocean acidification robs seawater of the compounds these creatures need to build shells and skeletons, impairing their development and, ultimately, their survival. If shellfish populations collapse, the animals that eat them will also suffer, with potentially devastating ripple effects throughout the ocean’s food web.

Two important planetary ecosystems, coral reefs and Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, are on the front lines of the acidification crisis. Coral reefs critical to the protection of coastlines across tropical and subtropical parts of the world may disappear as the rate of erosion exceeds the rate at which corals can rebuild — with staggering repercussions for related ecosystems like mangrove and seagrass.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Ocean, marine snails could be eliminated. These Antarctic pteropods are an important staple in the diet of carnivorous zooplankton, North Pacific salmon, mackerel, herring, cod and baleen whales.

It’s clear that this crisis has the potential to spin out of control, with devastating effects on vast numbers of species, from small shell-building oysters and reef fish to crabs, whales and sea otters.

Like global warming, the acidification of our oceans is a problem that’s vast in scale and demands a rapid and ambitious response. Even though our oceans are absorbing roughly one ton of CO2 per person on Earth each year, almost nothing has been done to curb acidification.

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