About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


34 Suffolk Transnat'l L. Rev. 183 (2011)
From Sea to Carbon Cesspool: Preventing the World's Marine Ecosystems from Falling Victim to Ocean Acidification

handle is hein.journals/sujtnlr34 and id is 185 raw text is: FROM SEA TO CARBON CESSPOOL: PREVENTING THE WORLD'S MARINE ECOSYSTEMS FROM FALLING VICTIM TO OCEAN ACIDIFICATION I. INTRODUCTION Each year, the oceans absorb up to one ton of CO2 per each person on the planet.' Although beneficial, this undertaking is cause for alarm because the current amount of CO2 in the at- mosphere has not been experienced on Earth for at least 800,000 years.2 While steps have been taken to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions, CO2 released by human activities has increased by nearly 40% from pre-industrial levels.3 Since that time, the oceans have absorbed almost half of all CO2 emissions, decreasing levels of potential of hydrogen (pH) and making them more acidic.4 This process, now known as ocean acidifica- tion, is rapidly increasing and has shrewdly been dubbed the other CO2 problem.5 Unless ocean acidification becomes part 1. THE ROYAL SOCIETY, OCEAN ACIDIFICATION DUE TO INCREASING ATMOS- PHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE 13 (2005) [hereinafter ROYAL SOCIETY REPORT], available at http://royalsociety.org/workArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=5709 (last visited Nov. 5, 2010) (describing effects of atmospheric CO2 on ocean chemistry); see also Scott C. Doney et al., Ocean Acidification: The Other CO2 Problem, 1 ANN. REV. MARINE SCI. 169-92, 170 (2009) (detailing human fossil fuel emissions as significantly affecting oceanic chemistry). Ocean acidification is a predictable consequence of rising CO2 levels, just like climate change. Doney et al., supra, at 170. Unlike climate change in general, however, ocean acidification does not suffer from uncertainties. Id. The ab- sorption of CO2 with seawater is well documented in data, surveys, and other models. Id. 2. Doney, et al., supra note 1, at 170; see also ROYAL SOCIETY REPORT, supra note 1, at 5 (noting changes in atmospheric CO2 higher today than for at least 420 thousand years). 3. Doney et al., supra note 1, at 170; see also ROYAL SOCIETY REPORT, supra note 1, at 9 (explaining oceans absorbed nearly 48% total CO2 from 1800-1994); Ky- oto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Dec. 10, 1997, 37 I.L.M. 22 (1998) (entered into force Feb. 15, 2005) [hereinafter Kyoto Protocol] (outlining emissions standards for reducing greenhouse gases). 4. ROYAL SOCIETY REPORT, supra note 1, at 5. The oceans cover roughly 70% of the planet, and the unprecedented increase in CO2 is chemically changing the oceans and its acidity. Id. Because the oceans act as substantial carbon reservoirs, cycling CO2 from the atmosphere, any increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere di- rectly affects the amount of CO2 in the oceans. Id. at 5-6. 5. Doney et al., supra note 1, at 170 (describing similarities between ocean acidi- fication and climate change); see also ROYAL SOCIETY REPORT, supra note 1, at 9 (detailing critical increase in ocean chemistry change caused by CO2 emissions).