Sarthak Pandey wrote
The Earth’s carbon cycle is balanced by the oceans. We all know that when we burn anything to everything on earth CO2 is released into the atmosphere. The CO2 concentration of the atmosphere obviously increases and hence is balanced by, oceans as they absorb the excess of it. Here is a catch, the seawater doesn’t know when to stop absorbing CO2 but it does know what to with the CO2 and hence it forms carbonic acid which increases the acidity of seawater. We have to understand and realise that increasing CO2 emission is a grave concern. From water bodies we get food, it’s a source of livelihood, it’s a means of cheap transport and also gives a bagful of countless resources as well.
Roughly 200 million people live along the coastlines, globally 16% of animal protein consumed by humans comes from fishes, people go to beaches for recreational activities and not to forget that raw materials are transported in humongous quantities by water transport only. So we need to be very careful about the emissions.
To put things to place the pH is inversely proportional to the acidity of water, that is higher the value of pH lower the acidity and the lower the pH higher the acidity. The pH of normal seawater is 9 that is, it’s basic in nature, the pH of milk is 6 that is, it’s slightly acidic. Now the thing to worry about is that at places the pH of water has come down to a range between 5–3 this has been disastrous as fish reproduction is affected and at places, adult fishes have died as well. So all in all it could be disastrous in all ways for humans and the organisms of the water bodies.
Act fast before we become the fishes of the acidic sea and lose our lives.
What can I do?
We suggest a few most-known and effective ways how you can reduce your carbon footprint:
1 — Try reducing the use of fuels the biggest contributor to the acidification of oceans. The burning of these fuels releases CO2 and this results in the over absorption of CO2 by the sea.
2 — Start moving to renewable sources of energy. Communities could join together and invest in using solar electricity, or a bio-fuel powered generator or a larger group of people could invest in windmills. All in all, we should use more renewable sources of energy.
3 — Afforestation will keep you alive. Forests are home to biodiversity and a hub of natural resources there is no organism that could sustain without oxygen. Plant as many trees as you can.
4 — Reduce the use of disposable plastic. The manufacturing of plastic products is inexpensive to humans because of its various applications but is very costly to the environment. The number of emissions released in the transportation of the raw materials, manufacturing of the plastic, its moulding and other processes. Thus the need for plastic needs to stop and we should use its alternatives.
5 — Recycle to continue the lifecycle. It’s needless to say that recycling is the solution to a number of problems including acidification of the oceans. We need to be conscious about the use of the products we use and also that how we can use them after they are finished as well.
Who we are?
We are @beawareCO2 a social-environment initiative to raise awareness of the public on CO2 emissions. Our aim is to create individual awareness of carbon footprint and orienting people to an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Do you want to follow us on Instagram / Twitter and join our discord community, for daily lifestyle suggestions?
