Our Sink is Clogged

I was recently reading some online reports and it appears that our sink is starting to get clogged and no I am not talking about the sink in our kitchen either, but rather our public sink of which the repercussions most of us don't yet fully appreciate.

For those of you who still don't understand what I am talking about, I am referring to both the Ocean and Terrestial Sinks, the two primary natural Carbon Sinks, which act as reservoirs of carbon by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a process called carbon sequestration.

The reason that these sinks are important is that they play a very important role in reducing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to an extent that the world would be a very different place without them. Of the two sinks, the Ocean Sink is reported to absorb 30% of all fossil fuel emissions and contain 98.5% of carbon in the atmosphere-ocean inventory. Everyday the ocean absorbs some 25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, playing an important role in slowing the results of global warming.

It has long be assumed that as civilisation produces higher and higher levels of carbon dioxide, the two sinks would compensate by absorbing greater quantities of greenhouse gases due to Henry's Law which states "At a constant temperature, the amount of a given gas dissolved in a given type and volume of liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas in equilibrium with that liquid."

And here is the problem. Scientists have been reporting that Terrestrial Sinks have been slowing for over half a decade now starting with the Amazon Sink and then followed by Ocean Sinks with the Southern Ocean Sink early last year. However to make matters worse, not only is the absorption of greenhouse gases slowing but the pH levels of the waters are starting to drop by significant amounts resulting in oceans that are 30% more acidic than they were at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

So what does all this mean? Well the long and short of it is that not only are is upsetting the delicate marine eco-system resulting in reduced biodiversity of species, destruction of habitats and ultimately, as fish larvae are sensitive to high levels of acidity, a reduction in fish. This will in turn have a further knock on effect since many developing countries are heavily dependent on the oceans as a primary food source. The resulting problems will clearly have global consequences.

I would hate to imagine a future where my kids can no longer swim in the ocean or enjoy the culinary delights it has to offer.