"The Sixth Extinction" Chapter 6

The Sea Arounds Us details the impacts that carbon dioxide is currently having on ecosystems and the environment as a whole. Ever since the industrial revolution, people have been burning an abundant amount of fossil fuels for cars, cooking, amongst other things. In addition, humans have increased deforestation to use the land for more buildings and homes. These human activities have inevitably caused a growth in carbon dioxide levels within the atmosphere, which further develops the greenhouse effect and global warming. However, many have the misconceived notion that the atmosphere is the only component of the planet that is being impacted by carbon dioxide levels; oceans are also being affected.

The surface water of the oceans have received a consistent increase in carbon dioxide because humans are adding CO2 to the seas. Consequently, this would result in the water becoming more acidic since carbon dioxide causes the pH levels to decrease. Acidic water means that many species would become extinct since they are prone to the exposure to such high levels of carbon dioxide over a long period of time. This correlation between species and carbon dioxide has been supported by a plethora of experiments done by Jason Hall-Spencer and Maria Cristina Buia, who are marine biologists. Their experiment consisted of setting up vents within water in Ischia that “produce a pH gradient… As you move closer to the vents, the acidity of the water increases and the pH declines.” (Kolbert, 116) They were able to study the behaviors of several organisms because many of them, such as Balanus perforatus, disappeared from the vented areas. The long-term implications of the findings from the study demonstrate that if ocean acidification continues, organisms will either migrate to other areas of the ocean or begin to die out because of the reduction of carbonate ions available to them.

The release of carbon dioxide has unquestionable negative effects on organisms and will continue to have them because humans are the culprits of the increasing levels. Barbel Honisch leads a group of scientists and they concluded that the current ocean acidification does not parallel any past even because carbon dioxide is being released into the air is at an unprecedented alarming rate. The reason for this: “Roughly one-third of the CO2 that humans have so far pimped into the air has been absorbed by oceans.” (Kolbert, 123) This is catastrophic since this indirectly implicates that the other ⅔ are being released into the atmosphere, proving that all of the carbon dioxide impacts the environment. Recently, studies have shown that the next 18 months are critical in circumventing the global warming crisis (BBC News); if not, nature will not be able to become restored and the effects will be undeniably irreversible. Many have the mindset that they are only one person, and constantly ask themselves “What difference can one person make?” However, if every person with that mentality placed a grain of sand in a bag, it would become full and fall, just like the chances of saving the planet.