A study on reasons and prevention of ocean acidification

1. OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
AND
ITS PREVENTION

2. • Ocean acidification
• Causes
 Effects
 Prevention

3. What is Ocean Acidification ?
 It’s simply pollution by Carbon
 On going decrease in pH of Earth’s oceans due to
uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from atmosphere
 Seawater is slightly basic : pH > 7
 When pH value gets shifted towards neutral (pH = 7)
acidification results
 Doesn't mean a shift towards acidic condition (pH < 7)

4. What are its Causes ?
 Carbon dioxide emitted from industries, vehicles etc
dissolves in surrounding water bodies – rivers, lakes, seas
….
 This is about 30 % to 40 % of emitted CO2
 Some of these CO2 molecules react with water to form
carbonic acid molecules to achieve equilibrium
 In turn some of these CO2 molecules dissociate in to
bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions (H+)
 This results in a increase in H+ ions and in turn the ocean
acidity

5. What are its Impacts ?
 Increasing acidity has potentially harmful
consequences to marine organisms
 Depressing metabolic rates in jumbo squid
 Depressing immune response in blue mussels
 Causing coral bleaching
 Increasing growth rate of sea star
 Flourishing of shelled plankton

6. Who are the most affected ?
 Shellfish industries – Loss of job and business
 Island nations – As these are built on coral, struggle for
food and to shelter their coastlines
 Youth who want a future
 Renewable energy companies – including solar, wind,
and hydro
 The whole climate change movement – carbon
pollution is enemy in both acidification and climate
change

7. How to Prevent it ?
REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT – HOW ?
 Eat less meat: Livestock farming produces more
greenhouse gasses than all forms of transport combined.
This is the biggest cause of climate change, and therefore
ocean acidification.The lower on the food chain you eat,
the less energy is used.Try meatless Mondays
 Use less energy at home: Make sure your home is well
insulated - roof and around windows. Use star rated
electrical products, turn off lights, unplug power sources
not in use, and use shorter cycles on your dishwasher and
washing machine. Switch to green power

8.  Conserve water: Lots of energy is required to pump, treat
and heat water. Watch what you pour down the drain and
use eco-friendly products that break down.
 Reduce your plastic addiction: Avoid bottled water. Refuse
straws when you eat out. Adapt to reusable containers.
Drink from the tap, filter it and use water canteens to refill.
Say no to plastic bags
 Drive and fly less: Carpool, ride bikes and take public transit
 Buy less stuff: Manufacturing products and the
transportation required to get it to you burns a lot of carbon

9.  Reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse:This helps conserve
energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions from resource extraction, manufacturing,
and disposal
 Assess your life, career and lifestyle choices: Is your
industry destructive, carbon intensive, polluting or
unsustainable? Suggest changes and do what feels
right for you and environment
 Calculate your carbon footprint

10. MAKE SMART CONSUMER CHOICES
 Refuse to use single use plastic bags and campaign to ban
them
 Learn about what all we dump into our oceans that
destroy ecosystems.
 Plastic pollution is a threat for sea life, and is a growing
source of chemical pollution in the ocean
 Plastic never goes away
 Never buy coral products - we’re losing coral reefs too fast

11. ThankYou