what are humans doing to stop ocean acidification?
The Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification is one of the first groups to make federal steps toward fixing ocean acidification. This group is leading research and intervention steps that will hopefully find ways to reduce ocean acidification. According to their website, (http://oceanacidification.noaa.gov/IWGOA.aspx), their main goals are:
Improve existing observing systems that monitor chemical and biological effects of ocean acidification and document trends.
Undertake laboratory and field research to examine the physiological, behavioral, and evolutionary adaptive capacities of selected species and complexes of species.
Develop comprehensive models to predict changes in the ocean carbon cycle and effects on marine ecosystems and organisms.
Develop vulnerability assessments for various CO2 emissions scenarios.
Assess the cultural, subsistence, and economic effects of ocean acidification.
Fixing ocean acidification starts at the federal level but if it is going to be successful then it needs to be continued with the people. The main problem now is awareness. Many people are not aware of how big a problem ocean acidification is. Honestly, a .1 pH change doesn’t sound like it would matter, but it really does. Many species are very sensitive to even a very small change like this. And at our rate, the change will not stop at .1; it will continue to become more acidic, which would cause even more problems.
If awareness about this issue was spread, it would be a much easier problem to tackle, if no one knows about it, how is ever going to get fixed?
Action on social media would most likely be the easiest and quickest way to spread awareness about this topic. There are multiple Twitter accounts dedicated to raising awareness about climate change and global warming:
Global Warming (17.9K followers): https://twitter.com/globalwarming
Climate Reality (196K followers): https://twitter.com/ClimateReality
Global warming and climate change are topics people talk about all the time, and often we seem to forget that there are other climate problems and side effects of those things that are also posing great problems to our environment. Washington has recently taken steps to fix ocean acidification because of the significant impact it has on some of their marine life. They proposed the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, saying “Ocean Acidification: From Knowledge to Action”. On their website (https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/publications/publications/1201015.pdf), they state what the governor wants to happen:
Review and summarize the current state of scientific knowledge of ocean acidification.
Identify the research and monitoring needed to increase scientific understanding and improve resource management.
Develop recommendations to respond to ocean acidification and reduce its harmful causes and effects.
Identify opportunities to improve coordination and partnerships and to enhance public awareness and understanding of ocean acidification and how to address it.
Many states have not begun fighting this problem, It may seem like it is only the states that are near oceans problem, but that is not the case because even states and countries that are landlocked are still contributing to the rise in carbon dioxide levels, so that makes ocean acidification a problem for everyone, even if you would have to drive through 4 states to get to the nearest beach.
In 2009, the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act (FOARAM), was passed. This allowed for an Ocean Acidification program within the NOAA, which allowed for ocean acidification to be monitored and the consequences of it on ocean life and systems could be recorded, it also states that plans would have to be made to protect anything that would be harmed by ocean acidification.
The Interagency Working Group on Ocean Acidification was created from the FOARAM bill that was passed, it is their job to carry out the demands of the bill and see that ocean acidification is monitored and efforts are taken to reduce or reverse it. Within this there are seven sub-groups that work with them:
Department of the Interior
Department of State
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce
National Science Foundation
United States Navy
All these groups separately have research going designed to learn more about the effects of ocean acidification and what we can do to fix the problem.
Humans were the cause of ocean acidification, if not for our reckless habits and insane amount of carbon dioxide emissions, problems like ocean acidification may not even be a thing we would have to worry about. But, we do have to worry about, thankfully some people have already started worrying about and creating ways to better the problem. Now everyone else needs to get on board.