Oceans dangerously acidic from carbon emissions, report warns
Posted by PhorosK@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 57 comments
Posted by PhorosK@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 57 comments
daviddjg0033@reddit
I have been criticized before and accused of cut and pasting in one of the environment climate subreddits for: CO2 + H20 -> HCO3- + H+ (a proton.)
Normal/neutral ph is 7. The oceans are slightly alkaline (alkaline ph are 7-14, where 14 would be the strongest bases like NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and KOH Potassium Hydroxide.) Bases are proton acceptors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkali
https://depts.washington.edu/eooptic/links/acidstrength.html
Acids, like Hydroflouric acid (when an ant bites you it stings) HF are proton (H+) donators.
Most marine life (ajd on land as my spine is made with calcium) has calcium shells. Ca++ (the calcium ion) is quickly dissolved in acid.
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/ocean-acidification
Going from a ph of 6 to a ph of 5 is 10x the amount of protons: its logarithmic. The oceans ph are moving down (towards acidic) by a decimal but that is a trillion trillion protons that are now ready to destabilize coral reefs or your favorite shelled marine organism.
When a calcium shell (calcium carbonate, CaCO3) reacts with an acid, it yields a salt, water, and carbon dioxide. The general word equation for this type of reaction is: Acid (the H+ proton donated by CO2 above) + Calcium Carbonate Ca++(CO3-) -> Salt NaCl + Water H20 + Carbon Dioxide CO2.
So as the calcium carbonate dissolves ir spits off more CO2 which can then add more protons to the ocean.
Did I explain this correctly?
One time someone made fun of me sounding old for calling H2CO3 carbonic acid. Call it what you want when CO2 carbon dioxide dissolves in water you get HCO3- plus that proton - or quadrillions of em.
Fox_Kurama@reddit
Might be worth noting that the ocean is now about 8.04. It was 8.2ish pre-industrial, and around 8.15 in 1950, 8.11 in 1985. When it reaches 7.8 or so is when a lot of stuff dies IIRC. In addition to CO2 emissions rising, the scale is logarithmic as you said, so we can expect the decrease to seemingly speed up if you are only looking at the PH number.
Specific parts of the ocean may of course hit deadly PH levels earlier than others.
jibrilmudo@reddit
I guess Captain proton won’t be to the rescue.
Active-Pudding9855@reddit
The oceans are the A/C of the earth and we're gumming it up with so much trash and carbon dioxide that it breaks down in front of our eyes. Good work humanity! 👍
... 💀
cr0ft@reddit
The Amazon as well. It's being constantly burned away to make farms and other shit. We kind of need the oxygen those trees make, guys. Guys? Guys?
PracticalTank5436@reddit
Nobody is listening. I realised that when they dragged climate protesters off the road in the UK and gave them a good kicking for making them late for work or the school run. At that point, i knew it was over.
LupinePariah@reddit
"Yoo no disrupt consensus! Unga bunga!"
Consensus reality is much more important than actual reality to most humans.
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
To be fair, oxygen shortage would be the last thing that kills us
Active-Pudding9855@reddit
True but the Amazon only consists of about 5 percent of global O2 production. That's a lot for one big forest but still only 5 percent. The other 95 percent comes from plankton and guess where they live? Hahaha... oof I made myself cry. 😥
SimpleAsEndOf@reddit
~~Good work humanity~~
Good work CAPITALISM 👍
Good work CONSUMERISM 👍
Idle_Redditing@reddit
If only more people listened to the warnings about it occurring decades ahead of time. If only the people who supposedly cared didn't suppress the most powerful and practical replacement for fossil fuels by lying about it and calling it dangerous.
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
Serious efforts will only be made when the top 10% really feel it. (This includes me and probably you) Time will tell if its gonna be to late then.
Idle_Redditing@reddit
I wouldn't say it is too late for all options but it is too late for the relatively cheap and easy solution of just cutting emissions by switching to a replacement energy source that has been available since June 1954 to work.
Now much more difficult and expensive massive scale geo-engineering will be necessary to correct climate change and restore the climate as it has been for the previous several thousand years. Even then, it it is attempted, there is the very real risk of it going very wrong.
Low_Complex_9841@reddit
You prefer nuclear bath and I prefer death ray from spaaaace. Guess what we have in common? Someone must do electrification @ Tw scale on Earth first or at least at same rate as switch happening! It all decades (60, 70 years) anyway at reasonable rate, so yeah, we better to do it 50 years ago. But piping money to oil companies looked like easier "solution". Dand, global warming turned out to be faster and harder than assumed!
As for your idea about sucking co2 out of air - despite decades of research plants (not necessary trees) still best thing available right now for this, and as someone calculated here you need way too much surface to cover in them for this plan to work at useful rate. (like whole surface of ocean? usable only on paper ...). So, double wammy.
Idle_Redditing@reddit
The world has a lot of areas called flood basalts. The porous ones can be used as aquifers for storing carbonated water.
The largest one is in Russia and is the size of India. The second largest one is in central India. There are also large flood basalts in the US, China, the Brazil-Argentina border area, etc.
However, some people ask questons like how it would be possible to do this when it is not profitable within 5 years. Meanwhile the entire Cold War was a gigantic waste of money yet it was done.
jibrilmudo@reddit
Is the one in India the size of Russia?
Low_Complex_9841@reddit
I think both potential storage oroblems AND actual atmospheric gases separation AT THIS SCALE was discussed here in this sub ...try search, it even works.
As for spending 1$ trillion on military each year (USA) .. yeah ... "our dear leaders" afraid each other enough for this lvl of spending. Military-industrial complex quite happy to be MAD along ...
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
Jup, aside from solar mirrors in orbit, which would be doable, I lack imagination for low effort tech. And this would only address the warming, not the ongoing collapse on many other levels. Trillions of currency units will have to be spent and probably tens to hundreds of millions will straight up die this century. But hey, at least we can push GDP a bit until then yay
Idle_Redditing@reddit
I had a different idea. However, multiple approaches would probably be needed.
I was thinking of removing CO2 and methane from air, dissolve it in water, pump the carbonated water into underground aquifers and let the temperature and pressure keep the gases dissolved. Also, do it in aquifers made of rocks like basalt where the carbon will bind to the rock and turn into more rock.
No matter what gets done, if anything is done, all of it would probably have to be the single largest effort in human history. It would require unprecedented support and cooperation from all of humanity.
ChiefIndica@reddit
It's too late now.
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
To maintain our standard of living and infinite growth? For sure.
To mitigate the worst effects using tremendous efforts? I dont think so. If this shit drags on for another 40 years though its a different story.
knownerror@reddit
As someone who's seen it drag on 40 years already... oof.
HerefortheTuna@reddit
The easiest thing we could have done was all keep working remotely (at least as a default).
Covid showed us the way
ChiefIndica@reddit
You're probably right, I'm just being flippant at the end of a shitty day.
(And deeply cynical but that's become a permanent feature.)
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
After cynical comes nihilistic. At some point who gives a fuck anymore, you can barely do anything as an individual anyway. Live your life in a way that wouldnt fuck the planet if everyone did it, thats really all you can do.
ChiefIndica@reddit
That's pretty much where I'm at!
Not trying to sound edgy: I am a self-identified nihilist - or some would argue absurdist. But (current shitty day mood aside) it's not entirely synonymous with being a miserable git.
Feeling that nothing really matters is kind of liberating. It's essentially making peace with your own mortality.
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
We all return to the dirt brother
Radiant-Visit1692@reddit
Who is making tremendous efforts? https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/governments-plan-produce-double-fossil-fuels-2030-15degc-warming
TriccepsBrachiali@reddit
Full throttle? No one. Some half ass it, which is better than nothing but then there are the petro states and the orange clown and his goons, who actively work against it. As I said, efforts will be made when it hurts the capital owning class.
ne1c4n@reddit
Guess this means I still have to go to work, since it's not full on steel melting Acid..yet?
Minus614@reddit
Bud acid rain that melts your car will be falling from the sky and you will still be expected to clock in everyday
BrightCandle@reddit
Don't be expecting any protective equipment either, infact don't expect to even be told its acidic rain you are expected to say the burning sensation is normal and what has always happened with rain.
ne1c4n@reddit
So true..it hurts :D
19049204M@reddit
If this ain't the goddamn truth.
Logical-Race8871@reddit
Well yeah, there's like 15 more years of profit to be made off you.
UncleHow1e@reddit
Yup, but no need to wait for steel. Calcium carbonate will do.
Designer_Valuable_18@reddit
Why is the ocean getting all acid ? Is it stupid ?
stampido@reddit
I always love the "report warns". it sounds so innocent, so... ephemeral. I wonder how long it will take until we hear the scientists say "guys this shit is f*"
Venomous0425@reddit
When there’s no option/solution remains and they have enough to make a Hollywood movie out of it.
SimpleAsEndOf@reddit
well, hello!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Scientists'_Warning_to_Humanity
... and remember that the right wing media aren't informing people very well.
Ree_on_ice@reddit
In this capitalist hellscape? There's a reason you have to go to very specific scientists' Bluesky account to get that sort of stuff.
Murphlovesmetal@reddit
They won’t care until it’s to late! And then they will still try to sell you something.
El3ktroHexe@reddit
This exactly. We're doomed and nothing will change. Can I respawn in another world please?
faster-than-expected@reddit
The ocean is a huge source of protein for humans and also a huge carbon sink.
We be f——ed.
melody_magical@reddit
Given the amount of reefs + people in Southeast Asia, the refugee crisis is going to be bigger than any headline about migration right now when those ecosystems collapse.
brovo911@reddit
Yes. I expect we will see billions starve within a couple of decades if not sooner
tyler98786@reddit
for over 3 billion people, seafood is their primary source of protein. This is a HUGE deal
cr0ft@reddit
It's a carbon sink when ocean going organisms take the carbon and build shells out of it (from microscopic to larger). But, once the aciditi goes up, those same shells don't get added to, they start dissolving. One more case of inertia in the system... first very little happens, then everything happens at once.
InternetPeon@reddit
I thought we all agreed and our government decided to not collect or review data that was unpleasant
robotjyanai@reddit
If you ignore the problem, it goes away 🥰 Science 101
cr0ft@reddit
There's a shocker. I guess nobody could have seen this coming or anything. /s
HigherandHigherDown@reddit
I was looking for an actual pH figure in the article, I see they provided this: Ocean acidification
Absorption of atmospheric CO2 as measured in aragonite saturation state Safe value: >2.85 2025 value: 2.84 High-risk value: 2.75
JustmeandJas@reddit
Only half joking… should we be worried about the cliffs of Dover and other big limestone deposits eroding?
Archeolops@reddit
Im good ill starve in my new apt and just went on my second vacation this year 🤣
StatementBot@reddit
The following submission statement was provided by /u/PhorosK:
Ocean acidification is one of the clearest signs that Earth’s life support systems are breaking down.
As oceans absorb more CO₂, their pH drops, making the water more acidic. This chemical shift dissolves calcium carbonate, the material many marine organisms need to build shells and skeletons. The result ? Coral reefs weaken, plankton struggle to survive, and food chains begin to collapse from the bottom up.
Because the ocean regulates climate and produces much of the oxygen we breathe, its destabilization threatens not only marine life but also human survival. Ocean acidification is therefore deeply collapse-related. It undermines the foundation of planetary stability itself.
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1o7fcmf/oceans_dangerously_acidic_from_carbon_emissions/njn6se2/
PlanteryYellow5657@reddit
Oh boy...
PhorosK@reddit (OP)
Ocean acidification is one of the clearest signs that Earth’s life support systems are breaking down.
As oceans absorb more CO₂, their pH drops, making the water more acidic. This chemical shift dissolves calcium carbonate, the material many marine organisms need to build shells and skeletons. The result ? Coral reefs weaken, plankton struggle to survive, and food chains begin to collapse from the bottom up.
Because the ocean regulates climate and produces much of the oxygen we breathe, its destabilization threatens not only marine life but also human survival. Ocean acidification is therefore deeply collapse-related. It undermines the foundation of planetary stability itself.