Seem far-fetched? Alarmist? Let me tell you a little story. When I was a boy we sometimes spent part of the summer on a lake in upstate New York. The lake had fish, so many of them in fact that some of them were actually dumb enough to allow themselves to be caught by even such a poor fisherperson as I was at that age.
Many years later, as an adult, I spent a few days at a friend’s cabin on the Chain Lakes, north of Utica. Expecting a few days of glorious fishing, I brought plenty of gear along, only to have my friend tell me that there hadn’t been a fish in the Chain Lakes for at least a decade! Acid rain had killed them all years before, all across upstate New York, by attacking the base of the food chain in the lakes. I wonder who caught the last fish!
The fish are back now, although it took many years of aggressive enforcement of environmental laws, and people are enjoying them again. Anyone with a brain is concerned about the effects of global warning on crops, water levels and our food supply, but how many are considering the effects of too much Carbon Dioxide on the oceans. Think they’re too big to be effected? Think again! When CO2 dissolves in seawater, one of the resulting compounds is Carbonic acid, which, just like acid rain, attacks the base of the ocean food chain. The following documentary explores the problem and suggests some mitigating possibilities.
A Few Random Thoughts... 