for me, it's ocean acidification.

So I'll close with a short discussion of ocean acidification.

81. Notes the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, including the finding that, while the effects of observed ocean acidification on the marine biosphere are as yet undocumented, the progressive acidification of oceans is expected to have negative impacts on marine shell forming organisms and their dependent species, and in this regard encourages States to urgently pursue further research on ocean acidification, especially programmes of observation and measurement

We have all sorts of other problems, like ocean acidification that come from CO2 in the atmosphere, anyway.

That's the reason that they're not able to respond or adapt to this rapid acidification that's going on right now.

In fact, what's being absorbed is something like 25 percent of our emissions, which then leads to acidification or lower alkalinity in oceans.

Expressing its concern over the projected adverse effects of anthropogenic and natural climate change and ocean acidification on the marine environment and marine biodiversity,

Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long range Transboundary Air Pollution to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground level Ozone. Gothenburg (Sweden), 30 November 1999

And then the last thing on the list there, ocean acidification if you were to ask me, you know, What do you worry about the most?

Climate change, ocean acidification, dissolved oxygen, carbon cycle, coastal upwelling, fishing dynamics the full spectrum of earth science and ocean science simultaneously in the same volume.

So, Charlie Veron came up with this statement last year The prospect of ocean acidification may well be the most serious of all of the predicted outcomes of anthropogenic CO2 release.

Likewise, rising temperatures are reducing the ocean's oxygen carrying capacity. The increasing uptake of carbon dioxide is causing ocean acidification and unprecedented changes in chemical and physical conditions, which in turn are affecting marine organisms and ecosystems.

One way out of the dilemma could be to allow higher sulfur emissions in sparsely populated areas where the soil is not vulnerable to acidification. Here, emissions from ship traffic on the open seas come to mind.

There is evidence of increasing acidification of the oceans due to increased carbon dioxide absorption, with far reaching consequences for the survival of coral reefs and the dynamics of organisms in the oceans that are the basis of the marine food chain.

Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate and in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification.

But it shows that we are interconnected, among many systems on the planet, with the three big systems, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and ocean acidification being the three big systems, where the scientific evidence of large scale thresholds in the paleo record of the history of the planet.

Air pollution also adversely affects natural ecosystems, for instance, through damage to plant growth, acidification of waterways, accumulation of mercury in the food chain and eutrophication of coastal ecosystems, all leading to impacts on agriculture, fisheries, forests and a host of ecosystems services upon which all life depends.

A recent study by the University of Lisbon s Center for Oceanography reports that acidification from CO2 emissions could cause the global shark population to decline by as much as 40 by 2100. Add to that the more than 73 million individual sharks that are already lost annually, and the situation is clearly unsustainable.

While this approach may be appealing, it is inadequate to address today s most pressing issues. For example, producing and delivering nutritious food consistently to upwards of nine billion people by mid century has implications for water and energy consumption, agricultural development and land use, the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, and ocean acidification, not to mention biodiversity loss, such as through overfishing.