In this section i take a look at how government agencies are hoping to overcome the carbon crisis that has been the major cause of Ocean Acidification while evaluating the outcomes if ocean acidification is allowed to run its course. Finally i wrap up my research with a big picture view of the entire issue.

“Since the issue on a global level has just recently, in scientific terms, come to light there are very few technologies in place to combat the issue. The core of the problem is human dependency on fossil fuel consumption, which when used creates carbon dioxide (Co2), which leaks into the atmosphere and ultimately into the oceans. This dependency is both a societal issue due to every community wanting to be able to live a luxurious life but also a policy issue with certain governments turning a blind eye to clear research that shows that global carbon emissions are very dangerous for the environment. The Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) believe the only way to truly mitigate the immense damage we are on the precipice of causing is to stop the issue at the source, there is no effective way to stop Co2 from reaching the oceans and no way to effectively draw out hydrogen ions in the water to reduce acidity. Therefore the only way to effectively stop ocean acidification is to implement measures that restrict Co2 emission globally with the long term goal of eradicating Co2 generation from a human perspective overall. The NRDC has had some success in this pursuit having successfully lobbied the United States congress to increase government funding on the subject from 6 million to 10 million US Dollars in the hopes of bringing new light to the subject and generating enough public knowledge on the subject to force the governments hand on specific regulations as well generating enough public awareness to change certain unsustainable habits in peoples personal lives. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is already working on frameworks who’s goals are reductions in Green house Gases through the development of “common-sense regulatory initiatives”. The EPA has already put in place initiatives such as the “vehicle greenhouse gas rules” initiative which is projected to eliminate 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases by the year 2025, and the “Clean Power Plan” which aims at reducing the use of “dirty” energy production which is currently the largest producer of greenhouse gases in the USA. This initiative will be fully implemented in the year 2030 and is expected to reduce greenhouse emissions from the power sector by 32% compared to the year 2005. While these initiatives are very Good and the work they are doing is very important the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) produced a report that still projects a 50% increase in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050 primarily driven by the a projected 70% growth in Co2 in the energy sector. This growth will primarily be facilitated by a projected 80% increase in global energy use. These projections also calculated that emissions due to transportation is set to double due to high demand for new cars in developing countries. The OECD claims from its models that economies that have traditionally been leaders in the Co2 emissions will not be taking the lead in that very sector for long. It is projected that many first world or developed countries may even see a draw back in Co2 emissions in the coming years, but that dip in Co2 emissions will not be enough to mitigate the immense new pressures on the environment new emerging economies will have in terms of Co2 emissions. An increase of that projected amount would surly cause irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems and potentially cause the absolute collapse of the ocean as a viable source of food for humans. If the oceans were to become too barren to support human life nutritionally it is expected that an estimated that 1 in 7 people or around 1 billion people who depend heavily on sea food as a major source of protein would struggle to continue to live at the same standard as they currently do. Some scientists will even go as far as to claim that there would be wide spread famine across the earth but specifically in the Oceania where people rely heavily on the ocean as a direct source of food.

The only possible positive that has come out of ocean acidification so far has been that scientist have found an increase sea grass growth in areas with high levels of Co2 the studies on this topic are relatively new and sea grass growth must continue to be observed but the scientific community hopes that sea grass could hopefully take some of the burden off disappearing reefs. In reality it is hard to imagine a scenario where sea grass can completely recover the losses from ocean acidification but scientists are hoping it may help mitigate the issue at least a little. Hopefully providing shelter for marine creatures that will no longer be able to hide in reefs.

The only real possibility to completely avoid the complete collapse of the oceans and subsequent disaster for human society is to mitigate carbon emissions is to take a hard approach on cutting back on future carbon sector growth. Trying to implement clean energy sources in developing part of the world so they do not have to become Carbon dependant. And on a personal level educating the public about the risks were taking everyday by being wasteful and ignorant.”

Thank you for taking the time to read the research paper i wrote, i dedicated a large percentage of time to this issue and feel very personally linked to it after having spent some much time on it and will be keeping up with this issue in future as i believe it will have a very direct impact on my life and the lives of future generations.

-Tristan Leuty