Acid seas

Acidification is one of the scariest threats to our oceans. The sea and its creatures have evolved in an ocean with relatively constant acidity, creating the rich web of life that many of us view with awe. For about 300 million years, the ocean pH has, on average, been around 8.2. This started changing with the industrial revolution and the resulting rise in carbon emissions. Oceans have taken up as much as half of all man-made carbon dioxide over the past two centuries. When carbon dioxide dissolves into sea water, carbonic acid is formed, resulting in higher acidity. The higher acidity, in turn, is detrimental to any creature with a calcium carbonate skeleton, such as coral reefs, sea urchins, many shellfish and so on. When acidification acts cumulatively with pollution, overfishing and other impacts, most sea creatures will have trouble adjusting.

This set of two mixed media paintings titled "acid fish" and "jellies" represent different stages of thriving oceans. While jellyfish will survive many impacts that would be devastating to less robust biodiversity, it is still questionable whether they will be able to withstand acidification.