Our Water is in Danger

11/12/13

With the large and constant increase in CO2 emissions, one of the biggest consequences has been observed in our oceans. As CO2 is released, instead of it getting into the atmosphere, a lot of it gets absorbed by the oceans. This has begun to cause a slew of problems in marine ecosystems around the world.

Ocean acidification has been largely increasing around the world over the past half century. As more and more CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, the more acidic the ocean gets. The CO2 reacts with H2O to produce H2CO3 which then further dissolves to H+ and CO3,2-, causing the acidification to take place. From this, many marine organisms are struggling to survive in various parts of the oceans due to unfavorable environmental conditions. The ecology of the world is being shifted on a massive scale, leaning towards the point of no return. As more and more marine organisms die, areas of oceans become anoxic, leading to large dead zones in important fishing areas including the Gulf of Mexico (Bruckner).

Not only is ocean acidification bad for the marine organisms, it also affects the global climate. As the oceans continue to suck up carbon dioxide, the amount of CO2 that can be continually absorbed each year diminishes, causing more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere. This puts a huge burden on the already overwhelmed atmosphere, furthering the effects of climate change. With an already shaky situation in regards to climate change, this extra burden poses an enormous threat to our already threatened way of life.

The oceans are just one aspect of water currently under attack in our current state of burning fossil fuels. Agricultural and Industrial economies throughout the world have been putting a huge strain on our drinking water supplies. Groundwater mining, the process of pumping out more freshwater than can be refilled has become prevalent in various areas around the world including Texas. As the practice of fracking becomes more widely used in Texas, the groundwater aquifers become more and more strained due to the absurd amounts of water needed to power these massive operations.

As with an ever increasing global population, agriculture has become a larger practice in order to feed the world. Agricultural runoff leads to nutrient pollution in many freshwater reservoirs leading to all sorts of problems. Eutrophicaiton from the increased phosphorous leads to algal blooms, or large scale algal increases in affected areas. As all of the nutrients are used up, massive dyings occur leading to anoxic conditions once again. As local and global ecologies become threatened, global environmental infrastructure begins to come crashing down leading to unknown effects on our climate.

In a world where uncertainty looms behind every action, one thing is for sure: If marine ecosystems around the world begin to fail, serious consequences will be imminent.  With that being said, there are two main ways of dealing with this knowledge. The first is to change the way the world is worked and run, specifically in regards to our increasing reliance on fossil fuels for energy. By reducing CO2 emissions we can greatly reduce the potential impact of rapidly accelerating climate change. The second could be through admitting defeat, accepting that climate change cannot be stopped and instead adopting adaptive lifestyles. By changing our lifestyles after climate change is in full affect, we can hope to endure the many environmental disasters predicted to come.

"It is well established among researchers that the uptake of increased amounts of carbon dioxide will make ocean water more acidic as the gas dissolves to create carbonic acid. Ocean chemistry is changing 100 times more rapidly than in the 650,000 years that preceded the modern industrial era and since the late 1980s, researchers at Scripps Oceanography and others have recorded an overall drop in the pH of the oceans from 8.16 to 8.05" (Climate Scientists)

Bruckner, Monica. "The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone." The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. <http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/index.html>.