Ocean Acidification -- can you see it happening?

[lexvil]

A simple explanation

 

[GJC]

That coral death, which is undeniable, was not caused by ocean acidification.

Oops. My lack of knowledge rears it's head again.

Perhaps you could expand on that a little?

 

[chillyinCanada]

 

[tursiops]

Oops. My lack of knowledge rears it's head again.

Perhaps you could expand on that a little?

Sure. The dead coral is most often due to bleaching, which has a primary cause increasing ocean temperatures, often exacerbated by nutrients. Bleaching means the algae living symbiotically in the coral tissue (zoozanthelle) are expelled by the coral as not doing their job. Their job, as plants, is to take up the sunlight and produce O2 for the coral animal, which in turn outputs nutrient for the algae. Symbiosis; they need each other. Increasing temperatures harms this delicate balance, and the coral animal's survival strategy is to expel its zoozanthelle and hope some better, hardier stuff comes floating through the water that it can pick up and live with. It only has days or a week or two to live this way, then it dies. See for more info: coral bleaching | Definition, Causes, Consequences, & Facts.
Ocean acidification has to do with the changing pH balance of the seawater, dwhich is normal slightly basic, but shifts toward more acidic as more an more CO2 gets dissolved in the ocean. The consequence is an inability of the little crustaceans, for example, to form calcium carbonate shells. See for more info: ocean acidification | Definition, Causes, Effects, Chemistry, & Facts.

 

[Celt]

YOU is the generic plural large-scale YOU. the point is, this is not about now; it is about the future for our grandchildren and beyond.

Now is the only thing it’s about, we can’t change the past and the future it will be to late.

 

[tursiops]

LOL. FOX and Heartland and some others love to portray climate change as a controversy. It is not. It might have been half a century ago, but no longer. But it is a great strategy to try and maintain denial.
See also John Stossel - RationalWiki.

 

[tursiops]

Now is the only thing it’s about, we can’t change the past and the future it will be to late.

I'm sorry you feel that way.

 

[DBPacific]

Now is the only thing it’s about, we can’t change the past and the future it will be to late.

So in your mind, there's absolutely no point to even try? To even attempt to avoid a worst case scenario?

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

Love this thread. It’s like my mum rationalizing brexit in an argument with the toaster...

 

[Celt]

So in your mind, there's absolutely no point to even try? To even attempt to avoid a worst case scenario?

300 years ago we could have changed things if we knew then what we know now. But today we’re locked into global capitalism which depends on growth. Growth and consumerism is what drives climate change. People are to greedy to change. What effective changes can be made that won’t fuel global recession?