The "other" carbon problem — ocean acidification Humankind's
assault on the oceans continues apace. A short time ago, we
considered the loss of 40% of the phytoplankton in the oceans
since 1950. In my post How We Wrecked The Oceans, marine
ecologist Jeremy Jackson explains why he believes the sea will
be devoid of fish and other large marine organisms sometime in
the 2040s. And now comes the "other" carbon
problem—acidification of the oceans. As we burn fossil fuels,
carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. Everyone
knows that part, but what they often don't know is that the
oceans act as a enormous carbon "sink" which absorbs as much as
1/3rd of the released carbon dioxide. So the CO2 is no longer
acting as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, which sounds good,
but unfortunately, we have shifted the problem of dealing with
the excess gas from the air to the oceans. Through some fairly
simple chemistry, the oceans are becoming more acidic as a
result. In other words, through a natural process, th