C02 is Changing Seas’ Chemistry – National Research Council Report
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The chemistry of the oceans is changing faster than it has in hundreds of thousands of years and will continue to become more acidic unless carbon dioxide emissions are substantially curbed, the National Research Council said in a report today.
(From E&E News / by Allison Winter) –The congressionally requested study takes a look at ocean acidification, a process by which ocean waters are becoming more acidic because they are absorbing more carbon dioxide. Rising acidity is of concern because it threatens marine life: Studies have shown it can affect photosynthesis, growth, reproduction and individual survival of certain organisms.
Several scientific studies have suggested that shifting ocean chemistry is particularly dangerous for shellfish, corals and other animals that grow calcium carbonate shells. If water becomes too acidic, it can dissolve those shells, sometimes faster than creatures can rebuild them.
“The changes we expect to occur by the end of the century will be the largest and most rapid shift in ocean chemistry thought to occur in many millions of years,” said James Barry, a scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who was on the 12-member panel that contributed to the report.
President Obama signed a law last year that created a National Ocean Acidification Program. The draft report recommended that the program try to fill research gaps and create an integrated observation network to improve measurements on ocean chemistry.
Barry discussed the report at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing today and took an overview of ocean acidification to mark Earth Day. In an attempt to raise the profile of the often-overlooked side of global warming, lawmakers also invited actress Sigourney Weaver to testify. Weaver narrated a 2009 documentary on the issue, “Acid Test.”
Today the actress — who recently tried to preserve the planet Pandora in “Avatar,” the highest-grossing movie of all time — called on lawmakers to take action on climate change legislation. Weaver and Senate Democrats on the panel said ocean acidification highlights the need for carbon caps.
“There is cause for hope, and my hope, one shared by millions of Americans, is that you legislators will put aside your differences and enact climate legislation,” Weaver said. “Having been in the movie ‘Avatar,’ I know how passionately people feel all over the country and over the world — they want to protect our planet.”
The Academy Award nominee added: “We need your courage, willingness and ability to act …the oceans are sending us a message loud and clear.”
Weaver added: “I am not here as a scientific or policy expert, but as a concerned American and as an earthling.”
John Everett, a consultant and oceans and fisheries researcher, questioned the science on the issue. Everett admitted that he had only dug into the studies in the past two weeks, but told panelists there is not clear evidence that the changing ocean chemistry will affect larger fish populations.
But Weaver, witnesses from the fishing and scuba-diving industries, and lawmakers on the panel said the cost of inaction could be too great. Fishermen are concerned harm to corals could break down food webs and affect fish populations.
“It’s just something you can’t imagine,” Donny Waters, a commercial fisherman from Florida, said in an impassioned speech. “This is something we need to be proactive, not reactive, about. This is a devastating ghost lurking in the shadows that would just totally devastate our economy.”
“Certainly, I’ve done enough science fiction to know the Earth can survive in various forms through lots of different nightmare scenarios, but again, that is entertainment, and as a citizen, I don’t think we can take that chance; we have to be on guard and see the scenarios and act,” Weaver said.
Their call to action resonated among Democrats on the panel and the one Republican in attendance, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who said “the cost of inaction is too great.”
The issue could also provide another wedge in the climate debate. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a champion of controversial cap-and-trade legislation in the Environment and Public Works Committee, said ocean acidification adds to the argument for a climate bill.
“Unless we have a climate change bill, we’re going to whistle past the graveyard. … I hope and even pray that here in the Senate we will have a breakthrough with the bipartisan efforts, the tripartisan efforts,” said Boxer. “We can study this and we must and we should, but we know the oceans are a carbon sink, so the obvious thing to do is just to cut down on the carbon we put in the atmosphere. It’s simple.”
“It’s not simple to pass a bill; I know that … but at the end of the day, we have to be bold and we have to address this,” Boxer added.
The issue buoys the argument for other lawmakers from coastal states. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) repeatedly said it would be unacceptable to ignore ocean acidification. When asked after the hearing what action she wants to take to address the issue, Cantwell pointed to a letter from more than 70 shellfish growers concerned about how rising acidity could ravage their industry that called for cuts to carbon dioxide emissions.
“We need to move ahead on climate legislation,” Cantwell said.
