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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15050326/00001
Notes
- Summary:
- Climate change is now widely
recognized as the most significant
environmental challenge of our time.
This does not just mean that the
environment or ‘nature’ is in danger.
We too will suffer the consequences.
We are inherently inseparable from the
environment around us and are reliant
upon the services it provides, from
the air we breathe and the climates
we inhabit, to the fertilized crops we
consume. We are exquisitely adapted to
the Earth as we know it. Unfortunately,
our activities are now altering the
balance of gases in the atmosphere—
the very gases that help regulate the
temperature and climate.
Our ever-growing greenhouse gas
emissions, predominantly carbon
dioxide, are trapping more heat in the
atmosphere, causing the temperature of
the Earth’s surface to rise. The result?
Melting ice caps, sea level rise, hotter
average temperatures, shifting wildlife
populations, changing disease patterns,
and more severe droughts and storms.
The disrupted climate system will
dramatically change the way people live
on this planet. We can expect to see
more heat-related sickness and death,
and food supplies and food prices
disrupted by more severe droughts.
There will likely be widespread hunger
in some countries and perhaps even
famine. Rising sea levels will flood huge
swaths of coastline. Within the coming
centuries some of the world’s largest
and most important cities—including
New York City, Bangkok and London—
will be at risk of flooding and even
total immersion. Entire countries such
as Bangladesh and most small island
nations will lose significant land area
forcing millions of climate refugees to
flee the rising seas.
Along with a disrupted climate system, our emissions of
carbon dioxide are having a severe, but more insidious,
impact on the oceans. The oceans absorb roughly 30
percent of global carbon emissions and 80 percent of the
heat generated by increased levels of greenhouse gases,
thereby mitigating some of the climate change that would
otherwise occur.1,2 However, this relief comes at a great
cost. Not only are the oceans warming and rising, but
they are also becoming more acidic.
The increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the oceans
results in reactions that are changing the chemistry of the
oceans, through a process known as ocean acidification.
This threatens marine organisms like hard corals, clams
and crabs that create calcium carbonate shells and
skeletons. The acid created by excess carbon dioxide in
the oceans takes the materials these organisms would
otherwise use to create shells and skeletons, and makes
it unavailable. This makes it increasingly difficult for
corals and other marine animals to strengthen existing
structures and build new ones. If ocean acidification
continues, the very water that these organisms live in
could become so corrosive that it would dissolve their
shells and skeletons directly.
While the chemical processes making the oceans
more acidic are well understood and accepted, we are
just beginning to understand the wide-ranging effects
acidification is likely to have on marine wildlife. Increased
acidity may not directly kill non-calcifying organisms, but
many are likely to be harmed in ways that reduce their
overall fitness and ability to survive. These impacts could
include decreased growth rate, reduced reproduction,
disrupted respiratory and nervous system function and
increased susceptibility to predators and disease, all of
which could produce ripple effects through food webs
and ecosystems. Ultimately, ocean acidification could
transform the oceans, leaving them far less diverse and
productive and making the lives and livelihoods of those
who depend on them far more uncertain.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
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