Ocean acidification is when the ocean becomes more acidic due to the overwhelming level of carbon it dissolves. The ocean has this natural ability to absorb carbon from the air. It helps to regulate the amount of carbon that’s circulating in the world.
Unfortunately, in recent years the amount of carbon has increased too much and the ocean can’t keep up. As a result, the pH level of the ocean becomes lower and lower. Air pollution, waste, water pollution and many other human activities contribute to acidifying the ocean. Here are 20 Prevention of Ocean Acidification that you can do to help the ocean.
Read more:
1. Reduce Consumption of Meat
A good way to prevent ocean acidification is by reducing consumption of meat. Farming livestock for meat uses a lot of energy and water. The vehicles used to transport the meat to places release a lot of gasses into the air which contribute to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect majorly speeds up the process of acidifying the ocean. Eating less red meat would lessen the negative effect on the ocean.
2. Reduce Animal Waste
This prevention is tied to the act of eating less red meat. By eating less meat, we can also reduce the amount of animal waste. Animal waste pollutes the air by releasing excessive amount of nitrogen and methane. Thus, less animal waste would slow down ocean acidification. We could consume other sources of protein like fish or chicken and also eat more vegetables.
Also read:
3. Use Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
Fertiliser and pesticide are important aspects to growing perfectly healthy fruits and vegetables that we eat. Without those two, we might never be able to eat the kind of food that we want and farmers would also face the risk of losing a lot of money. But when fertiliser is used in soil, it produces nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide releases warm gasses that’s 300 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Using less fertiliser would help to decrease the amount of gas. An alternative would be to use natural fertiliser such as compost. As for pesticides, the less we use them, the less they harm the ocean water.
4. Use Less Electricity at Home
Many of the appliances at home use enormous amount of electricity. Generating electricity takes a lot of power and fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are known as one of the worst pollutant of the air. By using less electricity at home, we can help reduce the pollution released into the air that eventually dissolves into the ocean water. We can limit or shorten our uses of electric appliances such as lights, washing machine and dishwasher.
Read:
5. Change Lightbulbs
Change the lightbulbs that you use at home to the ones that are more energy efficient. This is a good way to ensure less usage of power which means reducing the amount of fossil fuels or coals to generate electricity. This is another small thing that you can do to prevent further ocean acidification.
6. Look for Environmentally Friendly Source of Power
Other than using less electricity at home, we can take a further step into preventing ocean acidification by looking for a more environmentally friendly source of power. For homes, we can install solar cells on our roofs. We can save the planet and our money too. On a larger scale, a country can use wind power or hydroelectricity to generate power. All these alternatives source of power can replace our dependency on fossil fuels.
Also read:
7. Save Water
There’s no denying that water is a vital source of life. We use it almost every day to fulfils our daily needs such as showering or washing the dishes. But as a result, we produce more dirty water. The dirty water will then have to go through treatment before it can be released into oceans. Water treatment adds to the emissions of greenhouse gas. In order to avoid this, we can start saving water and avoid using it excessively.
8. Avoid Water Pollution from Home
This next prevention of ocean acidification involves avoiding water pollution from home. There are actually several ways in which we pollute our water from homes including disposing oil into sink, using harmful detergent for washing machine and using chemical fertiliser for gardening. All these actions should be eliminated as much as possible as they majorly pollute water. Water pollution makes it hard for the ocean to be resilient in facing acidification.
Read more:
9. Reduce the Use of Plastic
The case on plastic is a common one. Plastic is the most often used items for many purposes. It’s used for food packaging, shopping bags, furnitures or eating utensils. Plastic might be easy to produce but not so in disposing. It takes a long time for it to decay. Most plastic garbage ends up in the ocean and contaminates the water. This weakens the health of the ocean. Banning plastic might not be easy but reducing the use of it is possible. Little actions such as avoiding using straws and bottled water can help a lot in reducing plastic garbage. Less plastic means a healthier ocean.
10. Optimise Public Transportation
Vehicles release gasses into the air when they’re used. There are many people who owns their own private vehicles which means more harmful gasses in the air. Optimise your local public transportation to reduce the emission of gasses from cars. Instead of using your car, ride the bus or the train. Other option such as riding the bikes is an even better way to help clean the air.
Also read:
11. Making Sure Vehicle is in Good Condition
If using public transportation is not an option then it’s still okay to drive your own vehicle. But make sure that the vehicle is in good condition. Ensure that the engines run properly and use a vehicle that’s fuel efficient. Also, take your vehicle to regular service so it’s always in top shape. All this will reduce the chance of releasing a lot of carbon into the air.
12. Reduce Buying New Things or Products
Overconsumption is becoming a serious problem for a lot of people in the world. More things are in demand which result in more demand for production. The manufacturing process contributes to producing more carbon for the air. Moreover, those products have to be transported to many places which also increase the amount of carbon out there. Reduce buying new things or products so that the cycle of more carbon production can stop. Before buying something, make sure that you really need it and take into account of how the item was first made until it got transported to where it is now.
13. Reuse Things
It’s always a good thing to reuse things. You can use an empty plastic container to contain used cooking oil which will then be properly thrown away. This is a way you can avoid producing more plastic waste and polluting the water. The act of reusing things can help in relieving the ocean from garbage which affects its ability to absorb carbon.
14. Plant More Trees
Trees are good sources of oxygen. What’s most important is that they can greatly help to purify dirty air. Thus, trees help in clearing out air pollution and reduce the chance of harmful gas accumulating in the air. Clearer air means less carbon that will eventually get absorbed by the ocean water.
Also read:
- Types of Seagrass in the Great Barrier Reef
- Plants that Live in the Pacific Ocean
- Decomposers of the Ocean
15. Strict Regulations
An effective way to prevent ocean acidification is by reaching the masses. The government should set out strict regulations and policies that require proper handling of waste and reducing activities that have high potentials of creating pollution. When these kinds of regulations take a full effect then a huge change can be made for the health of the ocean.
Other Prevention of Ocean Acidification (16-20)
Here are additional prevention of ocean acidification that you can also carry out to save the ocean:
- Educate Everyone Around You: Try as much as possible to educate anyone that is close to you about the danger of ocean acidification. Speak on why we should be concerned and also give some solutions to ease the problem.
- Be a Part of an Organisation: Be a part of an organisation and join them to reach a larger audience. Sometimes joining an organisation could help reach a bigger goal towards saving the ocean as there are a lot of people with the same mission.
- Use Social Media to Bring Awareness: Social medias are a great way to bring more awareness to people all over the globe. Use them to voice your concern and to help people realise that ocean acidification is dangerous for us and the future.
- Shop at Farmer’s or Traditional Market: By supporting your local farmers and market, you can help reduce the amount of transportation used to carry all the goods to shops. This means less fossil fuels and gas in the air.
- Environmentally Industries: We should try as much as possible to urge the government to require more environmentally industries and factories. Most of them release fumes that contribute to air pollution.
Find out more:
- Impact of Global Warming on Marine Life
- Endangered Whale Species
- Types of Polar Bears
- Types of Starfish in the Great Barrier Reef
All these ways of prevention are actions that could help the already poor health of the ocean to avoid worse acidification. Small or big actions could bring great positive changes for the ocean and to avoid unpredictable consequences which we may later regret.