Acidification. I'm not going to lie, the first time I heard this word was just a few days ago. I was reading an article from National Geographic. Ocean acidification happens when the ocean absorbs excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is proving to be one of the deadliest threats to our oceans; it is killing our reefs. Florida's barrier reef has been taking hard hits from it, especially in the Northern Keys. Where there used to be a bed of beautiful, thriving coral, there is now just sand and the remains of the dead coral.
This photo shows a part of a thriving coral reef. This is what every coral reef should look like, but due to global warming and ocean acidification, these reefs are dying and they are dying much faster than anticipated.
The author of the above linked National Geographic article, Laura Parker, states that although reefs occupy less than one percent of the ocean floor around the world, they house around a quarter of the ocean's fish. Florida's coral reef isn't the only one at risk. Even Australia's Great Barrier Reef is being threatened by this! Scientists predict that parts of every coral reef will have wasted away in several years. The only way we can save these reefs is if we reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we release into the air.
How do we do that?
People are acknowledging global warming as a serious threat more often these days. We are making technology that is cleaner for the environment, such as electric cars or hybrids, which reduces the pollution in the air. Humans are slowly starting to realize just how much damage we have done to our Earth and that we need to turn this around. At the rate we are going, by the time we all realize what is happening and get our butts in gear to start helping the planet, it may be too late. Our reefs could be dead, killing a large amount of the sea creatures living in them. Our forests could be gone, our air could be polluted to the point where the damage will be irreparable.
Scientists have been coming up with inventions that will clean our Earth and help restore some balance. We can have clean energy sources! We just need to have everybody recognize that this is a big issue and it needs to be solved as soon as possible.
Saving our planet should be the most important thing on everybody's agenda.
