ocean acidification
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The news pays almost 50 times more attention to Kardashians than to ocean acidification
It’s probably not a huge surprise that ocean acidification, a carbon-induced chemical change that poses a huge threat to sea life, gets way less media coverage than the Kardashians, a family of prancing ninnies that poses a huge threat to intellectual life. But Media Matters has quantified just how much the coverage differs, and it’s […]
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Future California surfers are advised to hang zero toes over acidic waves
One of the lesser-known but still widely feared effects of an atmosphere chock-full of carbon dioxide is that it makes the oceans more acidic. The process, as described by Science magazine: About one-third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) humans pump into the atmosphere eventually diffuses into the surface layer of the ocean. There, it reacts […]
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Will climate change kill off Washington state’s oysters?
After years of speculation and research on the impact of the increasingly acidic seawater in the Pacific Northwest, some farms have actually begun to lose oysters. Can the state of Washington adapt quickly enough to save them?
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Critical List: The gas boom scam; Bieber’s electric car
In Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell looks at “the scam behind the gas boom.” What really makes money for a natural gas company? “Buying and flipping the land that contains the gas,” Goodell reports. A team of scientists has discovered how to use wastewater’s bacteria to create electricity. For his 18th birthday Justin Bieber received (among […]
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Climate change pantry raid: Oysters
Here's the current list of delicious foods that climate change is going to take away: pecan pie, chocolate, coffee, wine, bacon, peanut butter. Now, a new addition: oysters. This list does sound like the grocery list of a 1 percenter who shops only at a Dean & Deluca in Park Slope. (Wine-filled, coffee-flavored, bacon-flecked chocolate […]
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The great oyster crash
When oyster larvae in the Pacific Northwest started dying by the millions, ocean acidification was discovered to be the culprit.
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The oceans may be going extinct
Ocean ecosystems are taking a faster nosedive than anyone predicted. Without urgent action, coral reefs and entire fish species could disappear in a generation. Why is this happening? Do you really need to ask? Hint: It rhymes with shmarbon shmioxide.
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Climate change will cause Finding Nemo to lose hearing, die
Would Finding Nemo's Nemo have found his dad if he couldn't hear? Probably not! Which is why it's so sad that all of the Nemos out in the ocean (technically, they're called "adorable baby clownfish") are going to lose their hearing, and therefore their sense of when it's time to swim as fast as they […]
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Protect the coral reefs — the life you save might be your own
Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Pacific RegionCoral reefs are in big trouble worldwide — and that’s not just bad news for snorkelers. It could mean death instead of life for millions of people … maybe even you. Here’s why: Coral already provides the elemental compounds for a growing number of crucial medicines and […]