A Short Scene About Ocean Acidification With A Small Crew On A Boat.
Criteria: G | Ocean acidification
It’s a
little sour.
After stroking
the water.
When I bring
my fingers
to my lips.
A lot of
their world
is burning
underwater.
Dear Patient Reader,
Ocean acidification reduces the amount of carbonate, which is a key building block in seawater. As a key building block in the oceans, carbonate acts to form the shells and skeletons of marine organisms such as coral and some plankton.[1]
This week’s post is another storytelling twist on the next criteria/topic, ‘Ocean acidification’. I wrote a short scene between a crew on a boat. So, here we go.
Characters:
Captain P, Benedict, Dr. Lemony Stix, and a Boat
[They all always wear sunglasses because it’s sunny. Also, it doesn't hurt to be a tad fabulous on a boat when sailing feels monotonous.]
Geographic location:
Somewhere in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean
[A scene from a boisterous day at sea.]
[Benedict notices something.]
Benedict: “Oiye Captain, there’s a hole in the sail!”
Captain P: “What do you mean Benedict?”
Benedict: “Exactly what I said. There’s a hole in the sail.”
[Benedict points towards the evident hole.]
Benedict: “Probably why we’ve been sailing in the wrong direction Captain.”
[The Captain makes strange, irritated, but contemplative closed mouth/throat noise.]
Captain P: “Okay, let’s see it.”
[Benedict goes with Captain P to inspect the damaged sail.]
Captain P: “So what happened Benedict? Aren’t you supposed to take care of it?”
Benedict: “Maybe the sea threw a dead coral at us. You know something like the Titanic, but instead a small crew, no iceberg, and a boat versus an angry spot of sea.”
Captain P: “Oh for pickles sake Benedict! You’re losing it!”
Benedict: “Am I?”
Captain P: “Ohhh, I can’t even talk to you! Call Dr. Lemony!”
[Benedict goes down to the cabin to get Dr. Lemony.]
[Dr. Lemony is usually seen sipping alcoholic juices, and with the same artificial flower tucked behind his right ear. There’s not much to do, and Captain P, Benedict, and himself are pretty much healthy all the time.]
[Five minutes later]
[Benedict comes back with Dr. Lemony.]
Captain P: “Stix!! Can you tell me what happened?”
Dr. Lemony: “Well you were puffing away the other day, and the day before that, and the day before…”
[Dr. Lemony goes on for two minutes.]
[Captain P feels irritated.]
Dr. Lemony: “The sea’s too sour. It’s pH has decreased drastically since about 2003. It’s dropped down from 8.2 to 8.1[2] on the pH scale since the Industrial Revolution. No doctor can solve it.”
Captain P: “But there’s a hole in the sail Stix!!”
Dr. Lemony: “I know but what do you want me to do about it? There’s too much carbon dioxide in the oceans. Everyone’s burning fossil fuels because we need it.”
[Dr. Lemony gives Captain P a diagnostic. Benedict notices something for the second time. He climbs down to the deck of the Boat while Dr. Lemony talks to Captain P.]
Dr. Lemony: “It’s climate change and the ocean’s mad. Fish are dying, coral are dead, everything’s slowly dying and struggling to survive now. So the ocean threw a huge dead coral at us. How about that? The ocean definitely doesn’t have scurvy. It’s a whole lotta sour soup. Look, you can see the acid burns.”
[The Captain and Dr. Lemony look at the hole in the sail.]
[Benedict comes back with a large, dead coral.]
[Captain P sees it. Dr. Lemony pauses his diagnostic and looks on.]
Captain P to Benedict: “Throw that overboard Benedict!”
[Benedict goes back down to the deck to throw the large, dead coral overboard.]
[Dr. Lemony continues his diagnostic.]
Dr. Lemony: “It makes it difficult for those guys swimming down there, the guys growing down there, and the guys crawling down there to form shells and skeletons. Some of their shells even dissolve. Everything’s burning underwater.”
[Captain P not really listening and more irritated than he was fifteen minutes ago.]
Captain P: “By golly Stix! Quit the talk!”
[Captain P doesn’t really care about what Dr. Lemony is saying and yells at Benedict to patch the sail.]
[Dr. Lemony shrugs, and goes back down to the cabin to sip on his alcoholic juice. Benedict gets to work on patching the sail. And Captain P lights a cigarette as the boat still sails in the wrong direction.]
[End of scene]
That’s a wrap for this story.
Have a good week ahead fellas. Ciao
P.S. I would recommend you listen to Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour Episode, A Love Letter To The Ocean. Marine biologist, Marah Hardt, talks about the fascinating mating habits of marine life, and how they’re affected by an increase in the oceans pH levels. There’s so much happening underwater.
P.P.S. Next week’s post is titled “Over The Reef”, and is about coral reef preservation.
References
[1] https://coastadapt.com.au/ocean-acidification-and-its-effects
[2] https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/ocean-acidification#:~:text=So%20far%2C%20ocean%20pH%20has,for%20measuring%20earthquakes%2C%20is%20logarithmic.
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