• Question: How are climate change and water connected?

    Asked by 🍰 46map to Philip, Maxime, Jake, Ann, Annette, Amy Heather on 12 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Maxime Savatier

      Maxime Savatier answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Our climate changes because we are putting a lot of CO2 and other gases in the atmosphere. Part of this CO2 is absorbed by the sea, which make it more acid. In a sea that is more acid, animals like shellfish or corals have more trouble to grow, and in extreme cases, part of their shell or skeleton can be dissolved! Also if the climate is warmer, food in the water tend to be consumed more easily, blooms of algae are more frequent and quicker and water animals adapted for a warmer waters can invade and replace the other animals that were present at the start.

    • Photo: Ann Reen

      Ann Reen answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      Climate change affects the type of weather we get. The earth’s temperature has increased by 1 degree which sounds like a very small increase but this is enough to result in the ice caps melting.

      Also if the climate change continues it could affect the gulf stream. Our mild climate in Ireland is as a result of the gulf stream. If the direction of the gulf stream changes then our weather in Ireland could change too. Lets hope this does not happen!

    • Photo: Amy Heather Fitzpatrick

      Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 21 Nov 2019:

      I have to say I really like Maxime’s answer here. Another aspect of climate change/breakdown and the water in the ocean, is that the ocean is full of phytoplankton or microscopic algae. The video I have linked will explain just how important they are to life on earth. These phytoplankton help trap carbon dioxide and use it for photosynthesis. So they help trap more carbon than all the trees on the planet. When we pollute the oceans with chemicals and plastic, we make it hard for phytoplankton to live and then there is less carbon being trapped. Microplastic on the sea surface can also block the light reaching the phytoplankon, meaning they don’t photosynthesize and die. This is one aspect of how climate breakdown and water are connected, but of course there are many more

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