Is Global Warming the only problem with too much of a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide?

That’s bad enough, but there is more bad news.

The large amount of carbon dioxide produced by our activities is also finding its way into the world’s oceans as an acid—carbonic acid. That’s pretty much the same stuff as in sodas where carbon dioxide is used to make them fizzy. There’s not enough dissolving in the ocean to make it fizzy, but enough to begin to make it more acid. (What I intended to say is carbon dioxide makes sodas fizzy, not carbonic acid-I need to proof read better!)

That’s bad news for small critters like plankton, coral and other organisms that have shells which they make out of a substance called calcium carbonate-we all know it as the chemical that makes up limestone and eggshells. Why? Because as the ocean becomes more acid, it is harder for them use this compound to make their shells and without shells it is hard if not impossible for them to survive.

What sort of marine organisms? Clams, oysters and corals are probably the ones we all recognize right off, but those small plankton we mentioned earlier are really important too because they are the base of the food chain for many animals. Small fish feed on them, which in turn are fed on by dolphins, some whales, penguins, birds, humans, and the like. The point is that as the ocean continues to grow more acidic, many of the sea’s creatures will simply not be able to survive.

That’s the other worry about an excess of carbon dioxide.