What is Ocean Acidification?
Acidification is the process where a substance yields a hydrogen ion when dissolved into water. This means that it gives up the positive hydrogen in its molecular structure and binds with the water. So when CO2 dissolves into the H2O, it forms carbonic acid. And when the hydrogen in the water is yielded, it becomes a bicarbonate ion. But where does the hydrogen ion go? Well, there are lots of particles and other things in water. But the one that shellfish like oysters, muscles, and clams all use to build their shell is called calcium carbonate or CaCO3 which is one calcium, one carbon, and three oxygens. But the hydrogen ion likes the calcium as well and will fight the shellfish and coral for the calcium carbonate. This results in the shellfish trying to find carbonate to build their shells rather than finding places to eat or hide from predators. Anyway, the hydrogen ions are what make the oceanic pH drop and the reason that they’re even in the ocean is because of all of the carbon dioxide that is created when we burn fossil fuels to generate the energy we use to power our lives.
How does it Affect us?
The United States of America has been one of the first countries to be affected by Ocean Acidification. The Puget Sound has The most corrosive waters in the world. The water that the oysters grow up in is so low pH that they are dying within two days after being raised in it. If that isn't saying we've been hit, I don't know what is. Maybe if our rain was dissolving trees or something, but the water is corrosive enough to dissolve the baby oysters in hatcheries. That's right, the oysters are actually dissolving in the water that they're being raised in. The waters of the Kitsap Puget Sound have made a huge leap in acidification ever since the Industrial Revolution. Upwelling is how most of this acidification happens. One of the processes of this kind of upwelling, is when the ocean plankton absorb the carbon from the air in the water is then getting eaten by fish that live deeper and they’re taking that carbon dioxide even deeper and then upwelling brings all of that extra CO2 and making the surface more corrosive. Upwelling is natural, but when it upwells so much CO2 that it is increasing the oceanic acidity, it's a minor problem.
What can we do About it?
There are so many things that we could be doing to help stop the climate crisis, but we aren't. The answer to the question, “Who will win, climate change or us?” is determined by two other questions. “Can we power our lives with much less CO2,” and if the answer to that question is yes, then the second question is, “Will we do it?” The answer to the first question is pretty straight forward, of course, we can use less CO2. But the second, the answer depends on a few things. Scientists say that in order to protect the worst effects of climate change, we cannot let our planet warm by over 2 degrees Celsius, and we’ve already almost reached 1 degree.
And a quick piece of information, the amount of energy you need to warm the entire planet even 1 degree Celsius, or 34 degrees Fahrenheit, is so tremendous compared to how it happens naturally. For the planet to warm naturally like this would require hundreds of thousands to millions of years. And now some things about how energy is generated in the US. In a fuel plant, they have many turbines that are turned by burning fossil fuels that heat up water, and then the water turns to steam, then the steam turns the turbine which generates energy. But there are many other efficient, and Earth-friendly. Like using water and wind to turn the turbine instead. Or, you could pull energy directly from the sun with solar panels. And even some places use the geothermal vents in the earth to power plants and generate electrical energy. These resources are renewable energy sources, unlike fossil fuels which are nonrenewable sources which means that there are a lot of them, but eventually, they will run out.
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