Ocean Acidification Memo

To: Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

From: Ann Brown, Open Government Coordinator, Center for Biological Diversity

Subject: Regulating Ocean Acidification

Date: October 27, 2017

The implementation of a nation-wide standard for water quality, specifically for pH, is the most consistent way to measure the progression of ocean acidification caused by climate change, which is necessary for determining further courses of action, such as introducing carbon-consuming plants, to slow this progression.

Increasing Ocean Acidification

The increase in the pH of the world’s oceans is one of the most disastrous effects of global climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions caused by humans have resulted in a 30% increase

Both individual citizens and industries can and do take steps to lower their emissions of carbon dioxide into the environment, which correspondingly reduces the amount of carbon that enters the oceans. Still, this individual effort to combat ocean acidification cannot make a large enough impact unless it is supported by all citizens and industries in the United States and by governments around the globe and strictly enforced by federal mandates or policies, such as the carbon tax in British Columbia. Even if the federal government introduced laws requiring the entire nation to significantly reduce carbon emissions, large industries are certain to fight their implementation and succeed, and nation-wide enforcement would be extremely difficult because measuring every person’s and business’s carbon footprint is

Most citizens are unaware that ocean acidification even exists unless they have taken an environmental science class, which is usually not required in high schools around the nation. Requiring an environmental science class, or a similar class in which students learn about different aspects of climate change, could help motivate people to change their personal habits when they learn how ocean acidification affects both aquatic ecosystems and human communities. However, this education only directly influences current and future students, while adults and industries continue to practice environmentally harmful habits, unaware or unconcerned of their effects on the environment and on themselves

Protection of affected species. Adding species that depend on coral reefs to the endangered species list helps maintain aquatic biodiversity, which is vital for the conservation of ecosystems. Nevertheless, simply encouraging the protection of these species will not combat all aspects of ocean acidification; namely, it is not likely to decrease coral bleaching, which is the most urgent issue. pH regulation. Creating a standard for water quality is a dependable way to require every state to contribute to the prevention of ocean acidification. It would allow state agencies to declare certain bodies of water “impaired” by ocean acidification and implement further measures to reduce pollution. The complication of pH regulation is determining the nation-wide standard and defining “impaired”