The Disappearance of the Shell

When I was young I wasn’t into the whole “swimming” thing. I liked lakes well enough, but when it got to the ocean I simply couldn’t stand the salt on my body. I much preferred building sand castles and taking long walks along the beach, collecting shells along the way. I would stare for hours at each shell, inspecting all the slight variations in color and shape, the different patterns each one held, and every once in a while I would find a spiralled shell to marvel over. Even more exciting was finding a horseshoe crab skeleton lying there, looking as prehistoric as can be. I was always amazed by the vast number of shells and variety of them all. I couldn’t wrap my brain around the fact that each of those shells had held a creature within.

Little did I know that those shells faced a big threat, nor did I know how important a role they played in the ocean’s ecosystems. Rapidly increasing levels of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolve into the ocean as surface waters and the air exchange gases, increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the ocean and causing the water to both become more acidic and less concentrated in ions necessary for the development of these hard-shelled creatures. Without those ions, those shells on the beach I spent days marvelling over could be dissolved away, never to be seen again, and all because us humans rely so heavily on burning fuels found deep within the earth. The calcium carbonate structures of these organisms are vital to their survival - without them they aren’t only more susceptible to predators but become unable to protect their inner structures from their increasingly acidic environment. Without action, the beaches could be barren of their special treasures, but more importantly the owners of the shells, the mollusks and crustaceans, could be left unprotected, their armor disintegrated.

Mollusks, crabs, and much smaller plankton are losing one of their most vital resources; carbonate ions. They are losing their armor, their skeletons. Their environment is turning against them, and us humans are the ones turning it. With the excessive combustion of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide output, the oceans are taking up more and more carbon, causing them to become acidic and depleting usable carbonate ions. We are the only ones able to stop this terrifying trend. By switching our sources of energy, using solar or wind energy instead of fossil fuels, and by decreasing the amount of cars and trucks on the roads every day we can work to keep our oceans safe environments for the creatures that live within. Even if we cannot see the organisms that are being affected, we can most certainly see the repercussions they bring.

I want to live in a world where I can take long walks on the beach, collecting shell after shell. I want to occasionally come across a crab or two, crawling away from me, scared but healthy. I want to live in a world with tiny ocean snails dominating the ocean waters.