Part of the reason is that about "90 percent of the warming of the planet is absorbed in heating the oceans."[4] and the ocean has been warming quickly, much more than scientists had realized, with the result that waters are becoming too warm for many sea animals. For example, Maine has had to cancel its shrimp season the past two years because the water in the Gulf of Maine had become too warm for the plankton on which shrimp feed. [5]
The other major problem, resulting from the fact that "[a]bout 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that people have put into the atmosphere has diffused into the ocean,"[6] is ocean acidification, sometimes called global warming's "equally evil twin."[7] This greater acidity, which has increased "a whopping 30 percent" since the beginning of the Industrial Age, is making it increasingly difficult for sea animals such as plankton, corals, crabs, and mussels to produce enough calcium to make their skeletons. [8]
This is already having effects. "In the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, the waters have become so acidic that the once-thriving shellfish industry there is on life support." And scallops near Vancouver reportedly have had a mortality rate of 95 to 100 percent over the past two years. [9]
If phytoplankton and corals disappear, this will mean the disappearance of all sea animals, which have served as the primary source of food for 3.5 billion people. [10] And yet fossil-fuel companies are still being allowed to put increasing amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, 30 percent of which will be added to the ocean's acidity.
8. Thou Shalt Not Flood People's Lands
During the 20th century, the ocean rose about 8 inches on average, due to the expansion from the warming ocean plus run-off from melting glaciers. If the burning of fossil fuels continues, scientists expect the ocean to rise from 3 to 7 feet during the 21st century, and even a three-foot (one-meter) rise will be devastating. [11]
According to the IPCC, "Bangladesh is slated to lose the largest amount of cultivated land globally due to rising sea levels. A one-meter rise in sea level would inundate 20 percent of the country's landmass."[12]
Vietnam is presently one of the world's leading producers of rice, but "a three-foot sea level rise will eliminate half of the rice production of Vietnam." Because almost three-fourths of the country's population lives in areas that are threatened by sea-level rise, "Vietnam could face the most devastating consequences of global sea level rise."[13]
In Egypt, half of the country's agriculture takes place in the delta, but farmers there "are losing crops to the rising water table as the salty seawater contaminates the groundwater and makes the soil infertile."[14]
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