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Resource Depletion
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Posted Sun Mar 8 2009: from Telegraph.co.uk:
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The toxic sea: the other CO2 problem http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1236528699
They are calling it "the other CO2 problem". Its victim is not the polar bear spectacularly marooned on a melting ice floe, or an eagle driven out of its range, nor even a French pensioner dying of heatstroke. What we have to mourn are tiny marine organisms dissolving in acidified water.
In fact we need to do rather more than just mourn them. We need to dive in and save them. Suffering plankton may not have quite the same cachet as a 700-kilo seal-eating mammal, but their message is no less apocalyptic. What they tell us is that the chemistry of the oceans is changing, and that, unless we act decisively, the limitless abundance of the sea within a very few decades will degrade into a useless tidal desert. ... On average, each person on Earth contributes a tonne of carbon to the oceans every year. The result is a rapid rise in acidity -- or a reduction in pH, as the scientists prefer to express it -- which, as it intensifies, will mean that marine animals will be unable to grow shells, and that many sea plants will not survive. With these crucial links removed, and the ecological balance fatally disrupted, death could flow all the way up the food chain, through tuna and cod to marine mammals and Homo sapiens. As more than half the world's population depends on food from the sea for its survival, this is no exaggeration.
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Very Scary Tags: ocean acidification, stupid humans, massive die-off, death spiral, holyshit, ecosystem interrelationships
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'Doc Jim says:
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It's just a little evolutionary pressure. Come on, species, get with it!
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Read this article in its entirety -- it's masterfully done, explaining clearly the most fundamental issue of our time, and a clear danger that has no deniers.
Talk this story up to your friends, start getting the meme out there.
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