Ekstrom not only used computer simulations to predict future acidification from carbon dioxide, she also assessed the strength of local seashores, considering factors such as reliance on the shellfish industry, adaptability of the workforce, accessibility of scientific knowledge (in nearby research institutions and nature preserves), and even state and national policies. With so many countries contributing to carbon emissions, the best bet may be to assess local factors for change: issues we can control. What makes her study so complete isn’t just the data about the health of our oceans, but the risk factors on the adjacent shores. Pacific Northwest nearly US$110 million, and directly or indirectly jeopardized about 3,200 jobs,” she writes in the latest issue of Nature Climate Change, where she and her colleagues assembled research outlining the economic possibilities for every inch of coastline in the United States. “Ocean acidification has already cost the oyster industry in the U.S. Julia Ekstrom, Director of the Climate Adaptation Program at the UC Davis Policy Institute, wanted to know how vulnerable our shellfisheries are to ocean acidification. As the acid levels go up, the health of our shellfish goes down, and fewer are available to eat: not good if you’re in the chowder business. Off the coast of the United States, oysters, clams, and other edible bivalves have hard calcium shells that, like coral, slowly dissolve and weaken in the slightly acidic environment now present in our oceans. This process of ocean acidification has well-known effects on coral reefs. But it might as well be called “sea change,” because 25% of all the carbon emissions that we pump in the air actually dissolve right back into the water that covers 71% of our planet, creating an acidic mix not unlike carbonated soda. Climate change, global warming: we know the common descriptors for how humans have been altering our environment.
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