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Environment Exts - Warming Impacts - Ocean Acidification
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Environment Exts - Warming Impacts - Ocean AcidificationWarming induced ocean acidification disrupts the foundation of the ocean food chainCantwell 7 (Maria, chair of the Senate Committee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard—from an address to the Senate committee. LexisNexis May 10, 2007) Foster And to give one example from my home state, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently reported that the mountain snowpack that feeds the Columbia River system is shrinking away, producing less and less water for the rivers every year. While these easy-to-see impacts of global warming are highly disturbing, we are here today to examine impacts that are not quite as visible, but just as severe - those that occur beneath the surface of the ocean. The impact of climate change on our coastal communities from sea level rise and increased storm intensity has been the focus of much attention. But climate change also poses risks to our nation's multi-billion dollar fishing industry. In fact, global warming could threaten the very integrity of ocean ecosystems and possibly wipe out more vulnerable ecosystems like coral reefs. These are frightening possibilities - but very real ones. While it may not be easy to physically see the impacts of global warming in the ocean, it is vital that we examine them. If we wait until these problems are too painful and too obvious to ignore, it will be far too late. Carbon Dioxide in the Oceans: Ocean Acidification While carbon dioxide is accumulating in our atmosphere, it is also being absorbed by our oceans. Approximately one-third of our carbon dioxide emissions end up in the oceans. For decades, we assumed that the oceans absorbed these greenhouse gases to the benefit of our atmosphere with no side-effect for the seas. Emerging science now shows we were wrong. Thanks in no small part to the work of our panelists, we now know that the absorption of carbon dioxide actually changes the very chemistry of the ocean: -- Seawater becomes more acidic, and begins to withhold the basic chemical building blocks needed by many marine organisms. -- Coral reefs - the rainforests of the sea - cannot build their skeletons. -- In colder waters, scientists predict a more acidic ocean could dissolve the shells of the tiny organisms that make up the base of the ocean's food chain. When it comes to ocean acidification, we risk not just damaging the ocean's ecosystem - we are threatening its very foundation. The social and economic costs to the world's fisheries and fishery-dependant communities are incalculable. Managers at the local, state, and regional levels must be able to anticipate and develop strategies to address these threats. Washington State The dangers of global climate change and ocean acidification can be illustrated well with one brief example from my home state of Washington. As most of you probably know, Washington State is home to a number of important salmon populations. Salmon are a $330 million industry in the Pacific, and a cultural icon of the Northwest. As I mentioned earlier, global warming will continue to reduce the snowpack that feeds our rivers. With each coming season there will be less water, and the water will probably get warmer. Salmon rely on predictable and steady river flows for their survival. In the sea, young salmon depend on a food chain based on zooplankton. As ocean acidification takes hold, these organisms may no longer be able to survive. Conclusion Every coastal state can point to examples like this of the impacts of climate change on our ocean. And these examples are far too important to be ignored. Both global warming and ocean acidification have the same cause and the same solution: we must reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide. If we fail to address the potential impact of global climate change and ocean acidification, we may be jeopardizing all of our hard-fought ocean conservation gains. Those are difficult words to hear, but they reflect a difficult reality. Thank you all again for joining us today and for your hard work advancing this complicated, but necessary dialogue. I look forward to your testimony. Senator Snowe, your opening remarks? CO2 ocean acidification irreversibleMitchell 6 (Anthony, a writer for the Associated Press. “Oceans turning acidic and threatening food chain, says expert” November 10, 2006 LexisNexis.) Foster The world's oceans are becoming more acidic because of the amount of carbon dioxide they have absorbed, threatening sea life and the planet's fragile food chain, a climate expert said.¶ Oceans have already absorbed a third of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming, leading to acidification that prevents vital sea life from forming properly.¶ "The oceans are rapidly changing," Professor Stefan Rahmstorf said Thursday, on the sidelines of a U.N. conference on climate change that has drawn delegates from more than 100 countries to Kenya. "Ocean acidification is a major threat to marine organisms."¶ Fish stocks and the world's coral reefs could also be hit while acidification risks "fundamentally altering" the food chain, he said.¶ In a study titled 'The Future Oceans - Warming Up, Rising High, Turning Sour,' Rahmstorf and eight other scientists warned that we are witnessing on a global scale problems similar to the acid rain phenomenon of the 1970s and `80s.¶ The report was undertaken by the German Advisory Council on Global Change.¶ He says further research is urgently needed to assess the impact of ocean acidification.¶ David Santillo, a senior scientist at Greenpeace's Research Laboratories in Exeter, Britain, said it had come as a shock to scientists that the oceans are turning acidic because of carbon dioxide emissions.¶ "The knock on effect for humans is that some of these marine resources that we rely on may not be available in the future," the marine biologist, who was not involved in Rahmstorf's study, told The Associated Press by telephone.¶ Rahmstorf also reiterated warnings of rising sea levels caused by global warming, saying that in 70 years temperature increases will lead to more frequent storms with 200 million people threatened by floods.¶ Scientists blame the past century's one-degree rise in average global temperatures at least in part for the accumulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases in the atmosphere byproducts of power plants, automobiles and other fossil fuel burners.¶ "Unabated continuation of this trend will lead to a level of ocean acidification that is without precedent in the past several million years and will be irreversible for millennia," said Rahmstorf, head of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Research into Climatic Effects.¶ Africa is the continent expected to suffer most from shifting climate zones and droughts, like the one now in its fourth year in East Africa.¶ The scientist also called on industrialized nations to continue to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. Under the 1997 Kyoto accord, 35 industrialized countries agreed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.¶ Here in Nairobi, the Kyoto countries are continuing talks on what kind of emissions targets and timetables should follow 2012. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 0.82 Mb. Share with your friends:
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