Oceans turning acid

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette: While the world is riveted on Japan’s tragedy, other global menaces are proceeding, barely noticed. One creeping disaster is acidification of the world’s seas, caused by CO2 from burning of fossil fuels.

Ocean acidification is the “evil twin” of global warming, according to Jane Lubchenco, a marine ecologist who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Much damage has already been done. “The acidification that has occurred so far is probably irreversible,” Kolbert believes.

Even if all carbon dioxide emissions were stopped today, Kolbert writes, it still “would take tens of thousands of years for ocean chemistry to return to its pre-industrial condition.”

But smokestacks of factories and tailpipes of vehicles continue spewing CO2 that continues combining with water to make carbonic acid. Ocean chemistry is changed. It disrupts the availability of nutrients supporting all sorts of living beings, interfering with the reproduction of many species of plants and animals.

Spokesmen for coal, oil and natural gas industries routinely downplay, or deny, the impact of carbon dioxide emissions. Politicians from fossil fuel states — especially West Virginia — oppose every attempt to reduce pollution.