The oceans are becoming increasingly acidic. It is a particularly dangerous side effect of already poisonous greenhouse gas emissions. If the phenomenon continues at this rate, the entire global food web could collapse and humanity could face total devastation within a few decades, according to a new alarming paper.
The paper was written by two entrepreneurs and researchers affiliated with the University of Edinburgh. In the paper, the two argue that even a slight increase in acidity in the oceans will cause profound changes to ecosystems. Very dangerous changes, which will then have global ramifications down the line.
Oceans that dissolve everything
The central argument of the document is one. More acidic oceans could dissolve some of the compounds that make up organisms like plankton and coral reefs, as well as the materials they need to survive. Of course, other species would eventually take their place. Life forms that can survive the harshest conditions, however, are much less suited to providing the basis of the food web. This means that the phenomenon would eliminate the basis of many global food reserves.
The oceans, in short, would trigger a chain reaction. The outcome would be disastrous. The phenomenon would cut off the equivalent of food to feed around 3 billion humans. An apocalyptic scenario to say the least.
Brakes, brakes, brakes.
True: the impact of the climate change on the oceans is already causing chaos on the planet, but for me some aspects of the document should be taken with a pinch of salt. The authors make several eyebrow-raising claims. One of them: acidification would produce toxic microbes that poison the atmosphere, blown out of the oceans by powerful winds.
Leaving aside some questionable assumptions, however, it is also true that it is (and in the same field) the second, terrible warning for the future of the planet. Given how difficult it is to monitor the microbes of the planet's oceans (and how little we know), the overall message must be taken seriously.
