Ocean acidification occurs when the ocean absorbs excess carbon in the atmosphere associated with global warming. It has many negative impacts on marine life and humans alike.
Ocean acidification is a worldwide problem that, according to experts, requires the same level of attention as plastic pollution and global warming. Here are some of the best quotes about ocean acidification from activists, oceanographers, and authors.
Background Information: Ocean Acidification Infographic
1. “There are ecosystems like coral reefs at risk through ocean acidification. Those are valuable things that we should protect.”
– Bill Gates
Source: Sebastian Vital / Flickr
Coral reefs are one of the organisms most severely affected by ocean acidification. As acidification increases, coral become unable to build or repair their skeletons due to a lack of calcium. If ocean acidification continues, we may lose the majority of our coral reefs, as well as the important products and services that corals provide to the ecosystem and to our community and economy. Bill Gates, along with many other environmentalists, pushes for solutions to ocean acidification in order to reduce its impacts on fragile ecosystems. In particular, Gates argues in favor of a shift to clean energy in order to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This would reduce climate change and ocean acidification.
Source: “The Bill Gates Interview: An energy miracle is coming, and it’s going to change the world”, Business Insider, February 2016
2. “Nothing is as daunting as the threats associated with global warming. That’s the biggie. Everyone bangs on about rising sea levels but the real challenge of a warming planet is ocean acidification. An acid ocean spells the end of life on earth.”
– Tim Winton
Source: Jono Van Hest / Surfer Against Sewage
In this interview with famed Australian author and environmentalist Tim Winton, he argues that the issue of ocean acidification is often overlooked as many people are still unaware of the consequences of ocean acidification. As Winton states, the acidity of our oceans may result in the extinction of all species. This is due to the fact that ocean acidification has the potential to trigger a negative domino effect, resulting in an ecological imbalance that will harm both marine and terrestrial ecosystems and life, transforming our world into a place not applicable for life.
Source: “Tim Winton Interview,” Surfers Against Sewage, December 2014
3. “As an explorer, I know firsthand there are many places in the ocean so full of life that they should be protected. Coral reefs and mangrove coastlines are stressed already by climate change and ocean acidification, and poor planning will just make their plight worse.”
– Philippe Cousteau Jr.
Source: Wikipedia
Philippe Cousteau Jr. is an environmental activist and nature-television host whose work focuses primarily on the ocean. This quote emphasizes the significance of proper planning in minimizing ocean acidification in order to maintain the remaining pristine marine ecosystems. This is why it is critical to develop a comprehensive global solution capable of properly addressing the worsening consequences of climate change and ocean acidification.
Source: “A blueprint for our blue home”, Huffington Post, July 2011
4. “Past, present and future CO2 emissions will have a cumulative impact on both global warming and ocean acidification. The laws of physics are non-negotiable.”
– Michel Jarraud
Source: Carbon Brief Organization
Michel Jarraud is a meteorologist and former secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In this quote, Jarraud emphasizes that our emissions in the past, present, and future will push forward global warming and ocean acidification. This is due to the fact that ocean acidification and global warming are triggered by an excess of atmospheric carbon in the atmosphere, a result of human greenhouse gas emissions. We cannot address these problems unless we reduce global CO2 emissions. With his phrase, “the laws of physics are non-negotiable,” Jarraud emphasizes the fact that our only real solution to ocean acidification and climate change is reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Source: “Greenhouse gas concentrations hit yet another record,”, World Meteorological Organization Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, September 2014
5. “Global warming is the foreboding thunder in the distance. Ocean acidification is the lightning strike in our front yard, right here, right now.”
– David Horsey
Source: Los Angeles Times
David Horsey is an editorial cartoonist and political commentator for the Los Angeles Times. This quote argues that we have yet to see the worst of global warming’s impacts. On the other hand, we’re already seeing the impacts of ocean acidification. Horsey implies that ocean acidification is a pressing matter that must be addressed urgently. Additionally, ocean acidification can be seen as a wake-up call, indicating that the consequences of global warming are already harming the ocean today, and will continue to damage the world faster than we may realize.
Source: “Ocean acidification is killing sea life, and we are the culprits,” Los Angeles Times, November 2012
6. “Our biggest challenges for the ocean and for the planet are problems of perception. People need to understand that species extinctions, habitat destruction, ocean acidification, and pollution are all chipping away at the resilience of the thin layer of life that sustains us on Spaceship Earth.”
– Edith Widder
Source: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Edith Widder is an oceanographer, marine biologist, and the CEO of the Ocean Research & Conservation Association. This quote emphasizes that our planet suffers as a result of people’s lack of awareness about environmental problems that threaten our existence, such as ocean acidification and pollution. These problems are having a severe impact on the limited natural products and services we receive from the environment, as well as diminishing the capacity of life on Earth to adapt and survive.
Source: ORIGIN Magazine Issue 25, August 2015
7. “With our evolved busy hands and our evolved busy brains, in an extraordinarily short period of time we’ve managed to alter the earth with such geologic-forcing effects that we ourselves are forces of nature. Climate change, ocean acidification, the sixth mass extinction of species.”
– Kate Bernheimer
Source: Cybele Knowles / Time Out
Kate Bernheimer is an American author focusing on fiction and specifically, fairy tales. This quote describes how human technologies and activities are causing our world to face environmental issues at an alarming rate. We have caused climate change, global warming, and ocean acidification as a result of our carbon emissions and excessive pollution, which might lead to the sixth mass extinction. This quote relates closely to the idea of the anthropocene, or the stage of geologic history in which humans act as a shaping force on the environment.
Source: Xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, September 2013
8. “Ocean Acidification is sometimes referred to as Global Warming’s Equally Evil Twin.”
– Elizabeth Kolbert
Source: Suzanne DeChillo / The New York Times / Redux
Elizabeth Kolbert is a journalist and author of the award-winning book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. This quote emphasizes the fact that ocean acidification and global warming have similarly destructive impacts on life on Earth. Both environmental problems are triggered by an excess amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and both may lead to a mass extinction in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Kolbert goes on to say that in the past, ocean chemistry has been a good predictor of mass extinction, and has played a role in mass extinctions throughout the Earth’s history.
Source: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, February 2014