Read this or I'll KILL MY PET CLAM!!

[skids]

In the heated debate about Al Gore's AIT, are we missing something?

I think we are.

Because as far as I can tell, well over half of the people have no idea that Global Warming is not the only major threat that burning fossil fuels poses.

So you all missed that lecture. Here's your makeup assignment: read this article.

The pH of the saltwater has dropped 0.025 units since the early 1990s. The number seems unremarkable, but the pH scale is exponential, so a one-unit drop is a 10-fold decrease. The new measurement also puts the ocean on track for a dramatic decline by the end of the century.

Plankton -- tiny plants and animals that live in the ocean -- are among the creatures that could be harmed by the change. In addition to the water becoming more acidic, the extra carbon dioxide reduces the amount of chemical compounds used to construct coral and the shells of plankton.

"That's a major issue," said John Guinotte, a marine scientist with the Bellevue-based Marine Conservation Biology Institute who studies deep sea corals.

"You're likely looking at serious effects through out the marine food web across the board," he said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/265052_acid31.html

And if you don't, I'll be dropping my pet clam in a bottle of Coke. Maybe I should anyway, and post a video of its dying moments up along with the "altoids and coke explosion" videos.

At least then the issue would get some mindshare.

Tell me I'm not just yelling into the wind here.

[Bryan Buchan]

1. You are not just yelling into the wind n/t

[Thickasabrick]

2. Back away from the clam

:)

[The Stranger]

3. Congratulations, your planet is dying.

[malmapus]

23. Or in the words of Jon Stewart, "we broke it."

"Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry." - Jon Stewart

[xchrom]

4. ...

:hi:

[flamin lib]

5. kick

[Qanisqineq]

6. you have a pet clam?

Just thought I'd add a dumb remark to kick your thread. :hi:

[skids]

14. How DARE you question my sincerity!

Of course I have a pet clam. OK no really I don't.

But they are easy enough to get.

And I'll do it.

I will.

Don't test me!!!

[Dr.Phool]

15. Shhhhh....Don't tell him. It's really a rock.

[AnOhioan]

7. MMMMM....Chowder.....Sorry could not resist. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Coke-based chowder.

I think we're on to something.

[foo_bar]

9. won't the clam neutralize the Coke's pH?

H2CO3+CaCO3<->Ca(HCO3)2? Not that Alka Seltzer is an ideal marine environment.

[uppityperson]

10. Don't kill the clam, no clamicide!

[Bluebear]

11. Save the clam! nt

[Hubert Flottz]

12. Before you slam your clam, look at this fish tale...

The Codwalloper In Chief, Commander CodPiece, is polluting the world into starvation.

The Downturn of the Atlantic Cod

Atlantic cod caught recently in Nova Scotia, besides appearing very lean, are showing a strange body shape, with the back arched and the head turned down, in contrast to the classic appearance of the species. Cod now looks more decidedly like a bottom-feeding fish than it did in the past. Fish stock assessment scientists see a recent dramatic downturn in the numbers of Atlantic cod…but surprisingly, a ‘downturn’ can also literally be seen in the faces of individual codfish...as these fish struggle to adapt to the current poverty of their normal prey fish in the ocean(?)

Perspective:

A decade ago, cod stocks “crashed” in Atlantic Canada, an event generally agreed to have been the result of “overfishing." Despite a ten year fishing moratorium, however, these stocks are showing no convincing signs of recovery. Most perplexing, perhaps, is the continued, and increasingly acute, absence of older, mature fish from these stocks. With 10 years to grow without fishing pressure, there should now be a significant stock component of larger adult fish. But there is not…and in fact the oldest age now attained by cod on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, is less that it was ten years ago. Stock assessment indicators for cod in general continue to fall. Why? ...Might they really be simply 'starving?'

http://www.fisherycrisis.com/nscod.htm

[KingM34]

21. Thanks, that's very interesting

I'd read before that the size of a North Atlantic cod has shrank significantly over the last few centuries due to relentless fishing pressure. The cod that didn't reach sexual maturity at an earlier age and smaller size did not reproduce.

[Marnieworld]

13. We're all clams according to Scientology

Beware the warlord Xenu!

Operation Clambake
http://www.xenu.net/

:rofl:

[deaniac21]

16. Enough with the misogyny....

[uppityperson]

17. mysogyny? Don't you mean mysclamyny?

[deaniac21]

18. Could be...

;)

[Gregorian]

19. Please, no bivalve snuff film. Spare the Geoduck.

I'm not optimistic. As you noted, it's more than one facet of global equilibrium that is being upset by the manmade alteration of the atmosphere.

The way I see it, we have two solutions. Both are long term.

1)Decrease population. But that's not an option since no one wants to talk about it. I can't even get a forum here on population. Go figure. I mean, we have Dreadful Great and Fat Acceptance forums. Anyways, population is the big issue. It's going to change regardless of whether we talk about it or not, just because people like me are sick of the density of humans, and aren't breeding. Ok, enough.

2)Hybrids, alternative energy conversion. This addresses a fraction of the contributing factors of global warming. Heavy construction, transportation, manufacturing among other things, just don't lend themselves to lower energy density. I mean, try shipping truckloads of concrete with a Prius.


So.... Cue Cosby. How long can you tread water? I'm not optimistic. Beside, health is so boring. Humans love a crisis.

[dysfunctional press]

20. is that one of those bearded clams i hear so much about...?

i'd love to come over and pet your clam.

[boston bean]

22. clam down, will ya

I got the point.:P