Carbon emissions creating acidic oceans not seen since dinosaurs

could this be slowed with enzymes and cyanobacteria? obviously it won't be able to be corrected until we begin restoring some of the natural ecosystems, but i wonder if there are any researchers who have been able to biomimic the components of a healthy salt water aquaculture system that could be called upon to facilitate the research. it would be a great program to be a part of... and not just for marine biologists either. i would love to see a collaborative effort of bio chemical engineers, acqua botanists and systems analysts get together. maybe they can see if their efforts to restore a healthy ph and to cultivate the conditions for the growth of aquatic species will give them some answers into the principles of adaptability, sustainability, and the ecological arrangement and design of chemicals and mechanics in aquatic systems (ie how algaes and cyanobacterias acts as catalysts for photosynthesis and energy conservation) to be used in biomimicry here in sustainable communities

Reversing much of what we are doing now would be a start. We need more carbon sinks to balance out the Co2 already in the atmosphere, reforestation, Co2 caps, alternate energy investment on a wider scale than just offering people rebates for buying a wind turbine or a water heater, and most importantly supporting organizations that work to restore coral reefs.

What can we do about it...

most people don't realize that one climate extreme begets the other.I wasn't there the last time things changed but from what I understand it wasn't pretty.I'm good with GOD .It's conversations like this that scare me . could you imagine your parents having a friendly conversation about the end of life as we know it ,or life period . the truth is when my kids get home from school I'm gonna give them thier snacks kiss thier heads and act like all is right in the world because even if I only have five more minutes to live I stll have to live for that five minutes.it's like grieving and it wares on you.

Our total human contribution to global warming is 1tenth of 1% to maybe as high as 1.7% depending on what scientist you talk to.The point being it is not the big number that fear mongers want you to believe.I live in Alaska and my wife is native and i have been to the ice packs and from my own eyes there melting away at an alarming rate.So there is no mistake that it is happening.Within 30 to 50 years we will be in a new ice age.That is if we don't get hit by a big rock.like last Monday,only 78,000 miles from hitting us.We are out of time, it's late to spend any more time fighting about weather we should have cars that get 40+mpg or not.Get right with whatever God you believe in and maybe start learning about how to survive in the cold.I am lucky as i said my wife is Alaskan native and her people have survived the last 1500+ years in the cold.I also have children and i find myself praying alot lately.

misticdog44, I agree about earths life cycles (i am well read and consider my self educated to some extent),but I see only one flaw. dinosaurs had things like mega volcanoes erupting(that's just one example there are others) that drove there climate ..we haven't had one of those lately and we are still managing to duplicate it with our habits.Still what's posted here is not very clear only because it shifts between predictions and what's there right now.Frankly I have children and i would rather do what's right by the earth for them even if my part is small.

Well janforgore any relation to Al Gore?.Lets look at the title.The part that says.not seen since the dinosaurs.So if we had acidic oceans caused by high Co2 levels back then.Humm.. how can this be there were no people back then to blame it on,Is not global warming caused by us humans.No NO NO OH and NO..it is not.Global warming is a natural part of Earths life cycle.It really is that simple.Prof that us humans are not the cause is the fact that we were not here during the the last 8 to 10 times this has happened in our planets history .There is nothing we can do to stop global warming nor should we.Earth has every right to cleans itself as part of it's life cycle.Spending any money or time to try an change this fact is a waste to our resources.We need to prepare for what is to come maybe if we do we will survive.Following every Global warming event there has always been an ICE AGE again part of Earths life cycle.Our scientists need to be working on cold weather crops,all non conventional food and water sources and deep earth thermal energy.Lets not worry about 40mpg it wont matter when we have no food to eat or water to drink.If Earth wants us gone the we will be gone.Maybe we are not suppose to survive.We shall see.

I feel I have to justify my earlier comment ,science says baking soda will counteract the acidity.I realize that sounds ridiculous just because on that magnitude it's not plauseable.I was using it to refer to some fix that I may be unaware of.

jh64487: I feel your pain.

as acidic as it WAS before there were even humans the dinosaurs must have ignored there planet and drove there cars until the very end stupid dinosaurs

"but oh noes! we the taxpayers would have to pay for it if we wanted to save our fucking planet from obliteration caused by our own greedy incompentence."

sorry, i need to stop reading the stupid conservatives opinions on this site

Acidification of our oceans..CO2, JanforGore thanks for bringing this to our attention. The ozone layer deplation attacking the marine life in the ocean with the UV-radition, most fish can't take any more (skin burn and shock heating effect down to 150 ft in the water. The chemistry of the water is changed twice: C02 and UV radiation a toxic combination to run the oceans acid, no bail-out in sight for the fish.

Well the source of CO2 production in the US, 50% Electricity from Coal fired plants with almost no up to date filters. The CO2 sequestration program to feed Algae Bio-reactors on hold, why ?. The coal carbon lobby !

USA CO2 FACT SHEET (2007)
40% POWER GENERATION (COAL)
20% INDUSTRIAL
20% TRANSPORT (MY CAR)
13% RESIDENTIAL (MY HOME)

So MyCar and MyHome total 33% CO2,
I can act get it down. How ?
Double windows reduce heating 30%
A four cylinder or hybrid car 30% down
Total "ME" reduction 30% CO2
Yes we can

I agree, JanforGore. I think people around this country are charged and ready for action and mobilization. I was inspired by the 12,000 youth who attended powershift last weekend: they where there for the purpose to learn how to mobilize around climate issues.

I wonder: is there any "great stuff" Obama ( using taxpayer money) is selling to get coal companies to stop blowing up mountains and spewing pollution and Co2 into our atmosphere? Where's the legislation? It's great to get a rebate on a water heater, but after reading articles like this it doesn't quite impress me. We need a hell of a lot more than rebates to get our planet in shape. We need a mobilization.

can anyrhing be done to balance it(like a whole lot of bakingsoda) or is it one of those things that we just have to live or die with ?

Has anyone made the connection between this and the whales/dolphins beaching themselves yet?

thanks, Jan -

indeed, the ocean is as vast and incomprehensible as the atmosphere remains in our minds...

terrified to see what the report has to say; yet, hope we find an effective way to get the word out.

jake

From the article:

Human pollution is turning the seas into acid so quickly that the coming decades will recreate conditions not seen on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs, scientists will warn today.

The rapid acidification is caused by the massive amounts of carbon dioxide belched from chimneys and exhausts that dissolve in the ocean. The chemical change is placing "unprecedented" pressure on marine life such as shellfish and lobsters and could cause widespread extinctions, the experts say.

The study, by scientists at Bristol University, will be presented at a special three-day summit of climate scientists in Copenhagen, which opens today. The conference is intended to update the science of global warming and to shock politicians into taking action on carbon emissions.

The Bristol scientists cannot talk about their unpublished results until they are announced later today. But a summary of the findings seen by the Guardian predicts "dangerous" levels of ocean acidification and severe consequences for organisms called marine calcifiers, which form chalky shells.

It says: "We find the future rate of surface ocean acidification and environmental pressure on marine calcifiers very likely unprecedented in the past 65 million years." The scientists add that the situation in the deep sea is of even "greater concern".

The scientists compared the current acidification rate with a giant prehistoric release of greenhouse gas, which geologists know caused widespread extinction of deep water species.

The summary reads: "Because the rates of acidification between past and future are comparable, and [because] there was widespread extinction of benthic organisms [lowest living], one must conclude that a similar level of extinction is more likely than not in the future."

Concern about ocean acidification from carbon pollution has grown in recent years, but the issue receives much less attention than global warming — also caused by human carbon emissions.

The Bristol study is one of the first to predict the consequences of acid waters by looking at past events. It says future deep sea acidification must be limited to 0.2 pH units to avoid the worst effects. The pH of surface waters, where the CO2 is absorbed from the atmosphere, has fallen by about 0.1 units since the industrial revolution, though it will take longer for the acid to reach deeper water.

Ocean acidification is one of the key topics at the Copenhagen summit, with a series of presentations scheduled to examine the impacts.