Clearly we need to stop streams from dumping acidic water inthe oceans and to stop raining over coeans....
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The problem with using the term acidify for what rainwater does to the ocean is that people misunderstand what is happening. Sure, a hard-core scientist hearing acidify might think decreasing pH. But most people think Ooooh, acid, bad, burns the skin. It leads people to say things like the following gem that I came across yesterday:
Rapid increases in CO2 (such as today) overload the system, causing surface waters to become corrosive.
In reality, its quite the opposite. The increase in CO2 is making the ocean, not more corrosive, but more neutral. Since both alkalinity and acidity corrode things, the truth is that rainwater (or more CO2) will make the ocean slightly less corrosive, by marginally neutralizing its slight alkalinity. That is the problem with the term acidify, and it is why I use and insist on the more accurate term neutralize. Using acidify, is both alarmist and incorrect. The ocean is not getting acidified by additional CO2. It is getting neutralized by additional CO2.