EPA weighs action on ocean acidification

According to scientists, the oceans of the world have become about 30 percent more acidic due to human carbon dioxide emissions — and this spells trouble for ocean life.

The Environmental Protection Agency agreed last week to review how ocean acidification, a result of atmospheric carbon dioxide pollution, should be addressed under the federal Clean Water Act.

Biological effects of “ocean acidification”

Important note:

The text below is published by the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, a non-profit organization that is overall skeptical of the negative direct and indirect impacts of elevated CO2. This text provides a highly biased view and interpretation of selected scientific articles. It also includes misleading analysis and statements.

Nevertheless, this document is mentioned in this blog which aims to provide an unbiased view of the literature and media articles pertaining to ocean acidification and its consequences on marine organisms and ecosystem.

Jean-Pierre Gattuso

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As the atmosphere’s CO2 content continues to rise, the pH of the world’s oceans is expected to decline, driving a phenomenon described by climate alarmists as ocean acidification, to which they are already ascribing a host of imminent catastrophic consequences. Writing in the introduction to a special “theme section” of the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, however, Vézina and Hoegh-Guldberg (2008) state that “without an understanding of how such a slow and continuous decline in pH is likely to affect ocean ecosystems, we may miss important aspects of this global ocean pH change,” and that “to compound this uncertainty, recent research reveals counter-intuitive, positive/neutral effects of acidification on some organisms and processes.” Hence, they “felt that it was worthwhile at this early stage to assemble articles that critically evaluate the current state of knowledge on this topic,” and we felt it equally worthwhile to here review the major findings of those articles.