Posted on 04/04/2010 4:17:50 AM PDT by Scanian
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is exploring whether to use the Clean Water Act to control greenhouse gas emissions, which are turning the oceans acidic at a rate that's alarmed some scientists.
With climate change legislation stalled in Congress, the Clean Water Act would serve as a second front, as the Obama administration has sought to use the Clean Air Act to rein in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases administratively.
Since the dawn of the industrial age, acid levels in the oceans have increased 30 percent. Currently, the oceans are absorbing 22 million tons of carbon dioxide a day.
Among other things, scientists worry that the increase in acidity could interrupt the delicate marine food chain, which ranges from microscopic plankton to whales.
"There are all sorts of evils associated with this," said Robert Paine, an emeritus professor of biology at the University of Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Take a course in geology. There is a chemistry which produced the “limestone” that we use today for the basis of cement in construction. And what we use happened millions upon millions of years ago. Its a long slo process which has been going on as a part of a healthy earth.
Now with the heightened human activities, there is severe co2 loading going on , acidifying the oceans. It is a very real problem and needs to be dealt with. The sooner the world is off of oil, the better....in many ways. It would certainly shut those mid east yaps and return them to the stone age!
As a comparison, we could load you up with toxins, (heck! use alcohol!) impair your liver or kidneys and see how long you function. Small amounts you can deal with , with time.
There’s no more proof of elevated acid levels being caused by man than there is of anthropogenic global warming.
Liberal scientists are a joke. Conservatives are making the breakthroughs that matter.
CO2 in water is actually a weak ionic species because the bond with water is more covalent (electrons being shared to satisfy the “octet rule”). In large quantities of water carbonic acid is more than likely to remain in equilibrium with its surroundings greatly nullifying any potentially adverse effect in pH. These are proven scientific facts which the EPA is going to have to deal with and will get shot down.
I believe you are mis informed or ill informed on this matter. IT is real and quantifiable.
“...with the heightened human activities, there is severe co2 loading going on,
acidifying the oceans. It is a very real problem...”
-
Let’s see the numbers.
“Liberal scientists are a joke. Conservatives are making the breakthroughs that matter.”
All I ever hear about are the liberal ones.
While defunding the deathcare bill after 2010 defund the EPA
Got link?
Bookmark
A stern shot across the EPA’s bow should be fired by prominent conservatives with a voice. YOU in the EPA play around skirting the Constitution, the EPA will be de-funded in 2011.
Make up your mind, stern or bow. Or are you advocating splitting the difference? I could get behind that. :)
A. How CO2 can be "absorbed" by water B. How CO2 can be an acid
Water can absorb CO2.That's exactly what happens when they make carbonated beverages. The bubbles that come from the drink and bubbles of CO2 being released.
While the CO2 is dissolved in the water it becomes a weak carbonic acid solution.
But none of this is happening to the degree they claim it is and the and while in the ocean, the CO2 becomes part of carbonates (seashells, etc.) and makes life possible for seaweed and phytoplankton, both of which would cease to exist without the CO2.
Sorry.
Lies, lies, and more lies.
Thank you, Capt.
Glad to see someone around here has taken organic chemistry...
I saw a presentation on TV a couple of weeks ago where they made quantitative comparisons over an area they had been monitoring for 10 years and couldnt readily find anything on the net. The program also had Dr David Suzuki as a co narrator, so I searched on the Dr. (and carbonic acid) and found only references again. The closest I could come up with is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_acidification
which offers some comparisons....
The definition of tyranny.
“The program also had Dr David Suzuki.”
Get lost troll.
The reaction is:
CO2 (carbon dioxide) + H2O (water) = H2CO3 (carbonic acid)
This is one of the more common chemical reactions in nature. It is needed for life itself.
As soon as H2CO3 is available, plants and algae convert it to O2, sugars and other needed biological organic compounds (amino acids, proteins, etc.)
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