'Acidifying oceans' threaten food supply, UK warns

[Lars77]

Source: BBC News

Acidification of the oceans is a major threat to marine life and humanity's food supply, Hilary Benn is to warn as the UN climate summit resumes.

The UK environment secretary will say that acidification provides a "powerful incentive" to cut carbon emissions.

Ocean chemistry is changing because water absorbs extra CO2 from the air.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8411135.stm

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I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.

[msongs]

1. let's sprinkle the ocean with baking soda ... or something nt

[jwirr]

2. God, don't give the idiots any ideas. They might just do it.

[slackmaster]

7. This could lead to a revolution in submarine propulsion

[BeFree]

3. Reality

We're not gonna stop doing what we are doing to the climate and the planet.

So get prepared to deal with the consequences. And we might as well blame Obama for it. He asked for the damn job. Eh?

[Mithreal]

4. If he obstructs worldwide efforts, I suppose we could blame squirrels

[truthisfreedom]

5. I guess the price of sushi is headed up.

And fish sticks.

[bread_and_roses]

6. This is the real canary in the coal mine, I think, along with the collapse of fish stocks due to

over-fishing. But as someone noted above, we are unlikely to do anything about it. We are not, as far as I know, doing anything meaningful about over-fishing (can't interfere with those profits, don't you know) and we won't do anything about this. We are headed for real hell on earth.

[closeupready]

9. Yes, we are doing nothing about this; we are not reducing consumption of fossil fuels.

We are going to destroy ourselves and our society.

[slackmaster]

8. People aren't going to starve. They'll just have to learn to like other kinds of food.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091207-giant-lobsters-acid-oceans.html



American lobsters raised in more acidic waters grow much larger (above, right) than lobsters grown in less acidic conditions (left), a December 2009 study found.

The experiment, which mimicked rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels that are predicted for Earth's atmosphere, shows acidic seas can produce jumbo-size shelled marine species, including lobsters, crabs, and shrimp.

[NickB79]

10. You forgot this part from your link

"But even animals that grew larger in more acidic waters may ultimately suffer if an ocean food chain evolved over hundreds of millions of years is rapidly reorganized.

For instance clams—a main prey of crabs and lobsters—have "completely different" responses to rising CO2, Ries said.

"It's a scenario where the predator is getting stronger and the prey is getting weaker. The may not be able to sustain their populations and ultimately the predators will also be adversely impacted when the prey populations crash.""

Eat that jumbo lobster while you can, because the clock is ticking....

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Lars.

[DemoTex]

12. "The solution to pollution is dilution" was the old civil/sanitary engineering mantra.

How wrong that was!