SAVE OUR OCEANS

Yesterday, I went to the Aquarium and I had fun. Yesterday I was learning about aquatic life and how global warming affects it. The coral reefs in Austrailia and New Guiena are in trouble. Because of global warming the waters are getting warmer and the different fish such as stone and cuddling fish, have to go further south to get to colder water. They have to leave their homes behind and it is harder for the corals and algea to stay alive. Coral bleaching due to global warming is the most serious threat to coral reefs. Rising water temperatures heat the coral, breaking down the complex biological system that coral have evolved to survive. In some places, water temperatures are nearing the coral's heat tolerance. Already, 27 percent of the world's reefs have died, and by 2020, temperatures could rise enough to destroy most of the world's remaining coral reefs. Within a ten year span the waters have rised to 4 degree Fahrenheit. Another problem that is becoming big is acidification because it affects how coral reefs and shellfish grow. It is related to the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels which pumps carbon dioxide into the air. Much of this carbon dioxide pollution hangs over the earth in a heat trapping blanket, causing global warming, but some of it is sinking into the ocean, where it dissolves and reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Carbonic acid interferes with the growing of coral, preventing reefs from growing fast enough to keep up with the natural rate of erosion. It also makes coral skeletons more brittle. The combined stress of warming and acidification has many coral reef biologists worried. When coral reefs suffer, the entire community of aquatic life that depends on them for food and shelter suffers. Shellfish are also at direct risk from ocean acidification because carbonic acid reduces the levels of a critical raw material, calcium carbonate they use to grow their shells. Many creatures at the base of the food chain rely on calcium carbonate. Depending on what our future carbon emissions are, in certain regions ocean life could shift dramatically toward the spineless, as one scientist put it, to "the reign of jellyfish." The good news is that the key to preventing the worst outcome is already in works. Slashing global warming pollution. Carbon dioxide is the main global warming polluter. By cutting carbon dioxide emissions from cars and power plants, we can curb global warming as well as the acidification of our oceans. The ocean is filled with all types of amazing fish and mammals. The way the ocean works is that they all rely on each other to survive, its like one big family. I would hate to see our oceans destroyed because of mistakes that us humans are making. We need to put an end to this soon.