As the stretch of years with no statistically significant global warming lengthens, environmentalists scratch their heads and ask, “Well, if we can’t scare people with global warming, what can we use?”
And one of their stock answers has become, “Ocean acidification!”
Acid, you know? Nasty stuff! That’s what very bad people throw in the faces of good people they don’t like. It disfigures them for life. How terrible!
Except, no. Really strong acids can do that. Battery acid, for instance. But blue plums, grapes, pomegranates, blueberries, and pineapples are all acidic (their pH ranging from 2 to 4; on the pH scale of 0 to 14, acid is anything under 7, and basic is anything over 7).
And the claim that our CO2 emissions are “acidifying” the world’s oceans is balderdash. They’ve lowered average ocean pH by about a tenth of a point—from about 8.2 before the Industrial Revolution to about 8.1 now. And ocean pH varies regionally by about 0.3, and in tide pools by nearly 2 full points day versus night (because marine plants do more photosynthesis in the daytime than at night).
So the oceans remain today, as they have been throughout geologic history—including at times when atmospheric CO2 concentration was 5 to 10 times what it is today—basic, not acidic.
But average global oceanic pH has fallen! It’s fallen from about 8.2 to about 8.1! That’s the problem! That’s what’s going to kill off the corals, which will kill off fish life, which will starve billions of us! We must DO something, NOW!
No.
As Australian geologist Cliff Ollier explains, ” Marine life flourishes where CO2 is abundant.” He quotes Professor Walter Stark, a specialist on the subject, as saying, “coral reefs are thriving at pH levels well below the most alarming projections.”
So, there you go. There’s a quick-and-simple primer on the “ocean acidification” that isn’t acidification. For much more, see Ollier’s “Ocean Acidification Is a Myth.”
louis wachsmuth says
So, I once was an oyster farmer in Newport Oregon. Had to sell out and quit because of man-caused environmental destruction. Four or five different kinds of events destroyed the business. The last problem was with the changing PH of ocean waters that fed the state’s only oyster hatchery. A completely, well-proven fact that larva oysters could not make shell structure due to the very slight changing in acidity. Never before in history has this happened. Seems China’s coal-burning drops carbon into the ocean currents that travel from China to Oregon. Hey Cornwall, why not a comment about the new study of environmental destruction composed by the United Nations, 1400 pages from hundreds of scientists around the whole world. All liars?
Ethan says
Louis Wachsmuth, I recommend you read the article Lying with science: a guide to myth debunking by Matt Ridley.
Richard Hooper says
Good read. I’m interested in the issue raised by Louis Wachsmuth and his particular issue and hope to read your response soon. Without a doubt, good or bad, this entire situation affects us all.
Ray P. Smith, Sr. says
If all you people who believe all this nonsense about man made global warming, would look at the facts, you would come away with a different opinion on the idea that man is responsible for Global Warming and Climate change! There is no scientific proof That man has caused either Climate change, or Global warming! I urge all of you to stop promoting the ideas which are based upon computer models put together by so-called scientific experts which are far fetched researched ideas, if gone forward, your ideas will destroy the economy of the United States of America as we know it!
If you want to change the environment in the outer atmosphere I suggest we plant billions of trees around the world to over come the little effect that man may have as the result of their contribution to the overall problem that may? exist caused by man!
Sincerely, Ray P. Smith, Sr.