Global Warming Harbinger PBS Spreads Acid Ocean Alarm
Posted on: Thursday, December 13, 2012 Comments
A segment on the December 5th PBS News Hour ran a story with Hari Sreenivasan reporting titled, “Endangered Coral Reefs Die as Ocean Temperatures Rise and Water Turns Acidic.” This PBS report did its best to convince the audience that the ocean and ocean life off of the Florida coast are in danger because of rising water temperatures and increased acidity.
Here’s the premise presented by PBS. Because of “ocean acidification”, the coral reefs off of Florida are in danger. This crisis not only threatens sea life but the entire Florida tourist industry as well. The report went on to point out that the rising temperatures of the ocean, allegedly the result of human carbon dioxide emissions, were also exacerbating this global warming crisis.
As Steve Goreham points out in his excellent Washington Times article, there are a few holes in this story. First, peer-reviewed scientific journals have pointed out that while high now, ocean temperatures were even warmer during medieval times – a period when manmade carbon emissions could not have played a role in global warming. Warmer ocean temperatures are simply a product of the earth’s natural cycle of climate change.
Second, the PBS program presents an alarmist view of the amount of carbon dioxide which enters the ocean annually, without adequately explaining the natural process/cycle Mother Nature uses to both absorb and release CO2.
And finally, oceans are not acidic, they are alkaline. There is much evidence which shows that the high change rate in ocean alkalinity occurs naturally. Furthermore, as pH levels throughout the ocean vary greatly, it is almost impossible for scientists to know exactly what this means and why it occurs.
But nice try, PBS.
You can read more of Steve’s excellent article here:
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