The oceans are now acidifying faster than they have been over the last 300 million years, a time period in which there were four major extinctions driven by natural bursts of carbon. (emphasis added) In fact, humans are acidifying the oceans 10 times faster today than 55 million years ago when a mass extinction of marine species occurred.

Recent research finds that the threat to marine life posed by human-caused carbon pollution is coming faster than expected. And that’s a problem because as 70 Academies of Science warned in a 2009 joint statement on acidification: “Marine food supplies are likely to be reduced with significant implications for food production and security in regions dependent on fish protein, and human health and wellbeing.”

Why does carbon pollution threaten marine life? Significantly, as carbon dioxide is absorbed in water it causes chemical reactions that reduce “saturation states of biologically important calcium carbonate [CaCO3] minerals,” which “are the building blocks for the skeletons and shells of many marine organisms,” as NOAA explains. In the parts of the ocean teeming with life, the […]