Thursday, September 5, 2013

Victoria's Green Matters - 5th September 2013



Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury: Our oceans are the largest area of focus for climate change research. The deep oceans are warming as the warmer water at the surface circulates to the lower levels. This is thought to be a very important issue relating to the earth’s climate.

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are causing acidification in our oceans, the reason why many species of marine life, especially those with shells, are under threat. Seawater is naturally alkaline and as the oceans absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide they gradually become more acidic.

Coral reefs in warm water are already suffering due to a combination of these two effects but while acidification takes much longer to act, the consequence of rising temperatures can already be seen. Oceans, of course, are not the only parts of the planet to be affected but as everything is related in the overall scheme of things, effects are being felt around the world.

It is now generally accepted by most people that global temperature increase is exacerbated by human activity but there are still some people who refuse to accept that our energy intensive way of life has anything to do with the changes that are happening around the world.

Research has shown that with some changes to our way of life, a change in the way we produce food and what we eat and changes to the way we produce and use energy, we can live in a world which is not polluted with the results of this life.

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