🌅 Today’s stat: 8.1

SOURCE

U.N. Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023

WHAT TO KNOW

• Ocean acidification occurs as seawater absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, triggering a chemical reaction that lowers pH levels and makes the water more acidic. The ocean currently absorbs about 23% of annual human-caused CO2 emissions.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Rising ocean acidity disrupts the foundation of marine food webs by making it harder for coral, plankton, shellfish, and other calcifying organisms to build their protective shells and skeletons. It also threatens the food security of billions who rely on seafood as their primary source of protein.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The ongoing pH shift mirrors what happened during "The Great Dying," when ocean acidification contributed to Earth's largest mass extinction event some 252 million years ago. The event wiped out 90% of the planet’s species, including 96% of marine species.