In this chapter Kolbert travels to Castello Aragonese and goes in depth to discuss the effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on the Earth’s oceans. Kolbert meets two marine biologists named Jason Hall-Spencer and Maria Cristina Buia who take Kolbert to an acidified bay and show her the huge green bubbles rising from the vents in the seafloor and the very little sea life down there. The Industrial Revolution was the start of burning huge quantities of fossil fuels rising CO2 levels. This has gravely impacted oceans and the environment. Kolbert brings up the point that it has caused negative impacts in stating "Since the start of the industrial revolution, humans have burned through enough fossil fuels--coal, oil, and natural gas--to add some 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere"; thus, the general opinion and fact is that in the Anthropocene era humans are responsible for the devastation of the diversity in the environment.” (pg. 113) This relates to the theme of environmental problems have a cultural and social context because the functioning of our daily lives do depend on these actions whether they have negative impacts or not. It would be very hard for people to solve this issue without changing this modern culture everyone has grown accustomed to.
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