we thought acid rain was bad… what about acid ocean

For you science enthusiasts out there… here is an interesting article, out of my alma mater… go slugs!… about the acidification of our oceans.

In our history, our oceans have seen times where it was more acidic than basic. The transition, however, occurred over many thousands of years. Science points to the acidification happening again, but this time happening very, very quickly.

Of course, since we have never seen this before, we do not know what the effect will be on marine life or human life.

“More than anything, it’s the rate of change that has scientists worried. It’s one thing to add a big load of carbon dioxide to the ocean over a few millennia, quite another to shock the ocean by adding a similar amount in just a few centuries. “We do not know with certainty what the consequences will be,” says Ken Caldeira, a climate expert with the Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University. “But we are now adding carbon so fast that, chances are, the disturbance to the ocean will be even more extreme.”

click HERE for the article.