Taking a Dive into Acid

Scientists were shocked to find their own climate model predictions were wrong about acidic ocean water.  In fact, it was believed acid in ocean water would not be occurring at least till the end of the century.  However, in the western coast, the first signs of corrosive water are reaching the continental shelf.  Not only is this a problem because small animals like mussels will no longer be able to create new shells fast enough to survive, but it’s also going to hurt the food chain as a whole.  The acid in the ocean is caused by carbon dioxide from power plants, cars and factories, which is an aspect of global warming just now being realized.  Acidified ocean water can be fatal to fish and tiny plankton as well as other shell creatures.  Although it may not hurt humans, acidic water has been spotted as close as four miles to shore near California, which is unbelievable to scientists.  However, the problem doesn’t stop there.  Scientists predict that in 50 years, water will rise and be even more acidic than now.  There are creatures that thrive in this sort of water, such as jelly fish, but in the over all scheme of things, this new understanding will only hurt marine wildlife near the continental shelf.  Victoria Fabry, a biological oceanographer at California State University San Marcos says this new discovery is basically a “red flag” for us to start monitoring what’s happing in our oceans.   In my opinion, the only way to really help this situation is to start focusing on the issue at hand with education, so people know it is going on.  When people realize, maybe changes will start to be made to not only erase past problems but hopefully prevent future acidic water reaching our continental shelves.  After the Industrial Revolution, air pollution wasn't the only thing we, as humans, caused.  We also began hurting our oceans and animals.  This is a real issue and should be taken seriously.  So what's stopping us from saving our oceans?  The fact is, the oceans are already hurting with acidic qualities, and to reverse such issues will take a long time.  Time is what's standing in the way of success.  No one can go back in time and change what people have already caused, but we can push for a better tomorrow and pull back on the reigns of pollution.  Our oceans and marine wildlife need us!  The problem is out there, it’s time to try to reverse the effects of humankind since the Industrial Revolution.