OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

My Story About Ocean Acidification

A mission of mine is to do my part to warn people of the dire consequences of ocean acidification. This webpage and the story I have published are the means through which I will exert that effort. I pledge that half of all profits from any eventual sale of the story in any form will go towards ocean acidification research and education. We are all in this together, as we all share the burden.

Imagine no more coral reefs because calcium-based structures dissolve. Next, imagine phytoplankton that grow microscopic plates, like coccolithophores, dying for the same reason. Then realize that the loss of phytoplankton results in declining ocean and atmospheric oxygen levels, resulting in mass starvation due to reduced oceanic and crop productivity. The rioting follows. Civil war erupts. Nations make war. It will be doomsday for sure. So, what do we do? If you read my story you might get some ideas.

My novella entitled "Ocean Acidification and the Apocalypse" is now available at Amazon. A preface to the story is at the bottom of this page.

Search Ocean Acidification at Amazon for books you may browse for free.

Science Related to My Story

Articles on the relationships of ocean acidification, coccolithophores and other calcareous phytoplankton, and oceanic and atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide. Of particular interest is how ocean acidification kills the most important oxygen-producing organisms, for both the oceanic and atmospheric regimes, and how iron fertilization of the oceans may help to fight ocean acidification as part of a global mitigation effort.

http://www.sciencearchive.org.au/nova/106/106key.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_acidification

http://www.scor-int.org/OBO2009/A&O_Report.pdf

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/O2DroppingFasterThanCO2Rising.php

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Articles on the Productivity of Plants and Oxygen Concentrations

"all plant cells need oxygen to live because without oxygen they can't perform aerobic respiration (respiration is the process of breaking down food to get energy)." http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=760

"Although oxygen is a by-product of photosynthesis, plants lack a circulatory system to mobilize oxygen to heterotrophic roots, tubers, meristems, germinating pollen, and developing seeds."

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/152/3/1484.full

"Low oxygen enhancement of photosynthesis declined with time and after 10 d, leaf area and root dry weight were less than in plants grown in normal air." http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/2/159

"In aerobic organisms, oxygen is a rate-limiting substrate for the efficient production of energy...Despite their ability to produce oxygen in the presence of light, plants can experience low oxygen conditions when the oxygen diffusion from the environment cannot satisfy the demand set by metabolic rates." 
"Low-Oxygen Stress in Plants"

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Science on Climate Change, including global warming, ice ages, and "Snowball Earth"

Documentary on the phenomenon known as "Snowball Earth"
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/snowball-earth/ 

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/LOG3.php

Ocean Acidification Resources

Documentaries

YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY -

 “COLLAPSE OF THE OCEANS” with JOSHUA JACKSON (PT 1)
https://www.facebook.com/YearsOfLiving/videos/1270907326329656/

“COLLAPSE OF THE OCEANS” with JOSHUA JACKSON (PT 2)
https://www.facebook.com/YearsOfLiving/videos/1281660528587669/

Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean
Acidification (NRDC - youtube)
Hosted by Sigourney Weaver

The Death of the Oceans?
BBC/horizon/dailymotion
Hosted by David Attenborough
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/death-oceans/

Lethal Seas (NOVA - PBS)
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/lethal-seas.html

Ocean Acidification - Revolution World Issue
Revolution Movie

NOAA Ocean Acidification - The Other Carbon Dioxide Problem
GlobalClimateNews

Scientific Presentations

Rob Dunbar: The threat of ocean acidification
TED Talks

Acidic Oceans: Why Should We Care? - Perspectives on Ocean Science
University of California Television

Acidifying the Ocean: Assessing Impacts on Coral Reefs
University of California Television

Educational Media

Ocean acidification explained in two minutes
grist

Demystifying ocean acidification and biodiversity impacts

California Academy of Sciences

NOAA Ocean Acidification Demonstration
A Sea Change

Imagine A World Without Fish
(Niijii Films/Bullfrog Films)


Other Resources

Strategic Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/NSTC/iwg-oa_strategic_plan_march_2014.pdf