65 million years ago when the dinos died the acidity in the sea went up. That's why so much marine life died then. The acidity in the sea RIGHT NOW is rising. this is a phenomenon we are all quite familiar with in our tanks. too much dissolved CO2 in the water make pH rise and our tanks are nuked. That's what is happening now in the oceans. Unfortunately I don't think there is much we can do about it because even if we stop burning fossil fuels there will still be too much CO2 in the atmosphere. the effects of acidification will only recede once the CO2 in the atmosphere is used up or removed on a scale that is currently not feasible.
so my outlook is bleak. I am quite convinced we are on the verge of a mass extinction... the first to be caused by a single species and not environmental factors. Do i think humans will die out? no. we are too capable of adapting. i just hope we learn our lesson this time. Do i think all marine life will be extinguished? or terrestrial life for that matter? nope. didn't happen in the last few mass extinctions, why now? but a LOT will go extinct. and the blame is on us. *shrug* it's time to act.
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