Just finished watching The Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification short documentary on Ocean Acidification produced by the US based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). It explains the issue and connection with global warming and climate change - but a little too simply for my preference - but the videography and production is excellent. 21:35 long. The actress Sigourney Weaver does the narration in this doco. For something a bit more in depth see marine chemist Dr Andrew Dickson from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (56 min) presentation near the end of this article.
I was even more impressed with Weaver when in a television interview on FOX news in October 2009 she would not be diverted to talk about her new film - Avatar - but instead took control of the interview to continue talking on the acidification threat to Earth's oceans. It's good to see high profile people like Weaver delivering this message to a wider audience. Now if every person who watched Avatar did some indigenous resistance on climate change on Earth we might stand a chance of curtailing CO2 emissions and limiting the dangerous impacts.
Ocean acidification has really only been raised as a serious issue over the last several years, although Marine Scientists have been aware of the chemistry for longer.
Want to investigate more?
Watch this 56:46 youtube video from the University of California Television. This is a lecture by marine chemist Dr Andrew Dickson from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego on Acidic Oceans: Why Should We Care?, uploaded to Youtube March 12, 2009. It goes into ocean Chemistry a bit, and how it has changed in the last two hundred years and the predictions and possible impacts in the future. The last ten minutes he talks about the Monaco Declaration before taking a few questions from the audience. Worthwhile watching with a bit more scientific detail than the NRDC documentary.
Takver is a citizen journalist from Melbourne who has been writing on Climate Change issues and protests including Rising Sea Level, Ocean acidification, Environmental and social Impacts since 2004.
