By Holly

One thought, which strikes me every Earth Day, is that a day or week isn’t enough time to devote to our home planet. We are in stewardship of the Earth every day of our lives and, quite honestly, we haven’t been doing a very good job of it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not admonishing anyone here. There is definitely more I can personally do to make a difference, and reports like the one I saw on Good Morning America this morning drives the point home even more.

Our oceans are becoming acidic, which is beginning to destroy the ability of much of the oceanic life to survive. It’s due in large part to the fact that the oceans are absorbing a high percentage of the CO2 (approx. 90%) from green house gasses we are pumping into the atmosphere from fossil fuel consumption.

For those who focus on the environment and know the impact dead oceans would have planet-wide, we must act and do what we can to prevent further acidification of our oceans.

If economics is more your priority, imagine the loss of another $2 billion dollar industry in the U.S.–I’m talking the shellfish trade. Due to a rise in the acidity levels of our oceans, shellfish are having difficulty growing their protective shells and beginning to die off in alarming numbers. Again, see the GMA report.

Any way you approach it, we all have a responsibility to get involved. Indeed, this seems like a perfect Earth Day research project to me, don’t you agree?

comments (0)

share