The term
“ocean acidification”
was invented
to scare people
into opposing
the use of fossil fuels,
which power 80%
of the U.S. and world
economies.
Carbon dioxide
is a vital part
of ocean health and
the ocean food web,
because
additional CO2 input
allows marine life
to thrive.
The foundation of the
ocean food web is
phytoplankton,
which includes
organisms such as
microscopic plants
and bacteria.
These organisms
require CO2
to make their food
through photosynthesis.
CO2 is an important
plankton food
that enriches sea life.
The term
“ocean acidification”
is highly misleading.
The acidity or alkalinity
of sea water is described
by its pH level.
At a representative
ocean surface
temperature
of 25 degrees C.,
water is acidic at a pH
less than 7, and alkaline
if pH is greater than 7.
Seawater is
naturally alkaline
at 8.2.
Even if atmospheric CO2
concentrations were to rise
from today’s 400 ppm
to 1,000 ppm, over about
250 years at current rates,
ocean pH would fall
only to 7.8, still well above
neutral, and stabilize there.
A change from a pH of 8.2
to a Ph of 7.8 would be
accurately described
as neutralizing, or
becoming less alkaline.
"Acidification" is a
propaganda term.
The policy debate
on pH levels is based on
mathematical modeling,
rather than field data.
Patrick Moore, PhD,
a noted ecologist
and a former top-ranking
Greenpeace official,
said that, “
Shells and
marine species
thrive in widely
varying pH levels,
making the so-called
acidification crisis
yet another cynical
example of propaganda
masquerading as science.
As with fears of polar bear
extinction, frequencies of
hurricanes, length of droughts,
and ‘accelerating’ sea-level rise,
the specter of ‘ocean acidification’
has no basis in the scientific data.”