Ocean pH has declined to 8.1 from 8.2 since the
Industrial Revolution, and while those are just numbers to most of us, «reef development is thought to cease at pH 7.8,» said David Wachenfeld, director of reef recovery at the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park Authority, a government agency.
Mercury levels in the upper layers of the ocean are up 3.4 x since the beginning of the
industrial revolution, according to the first study to have done truly global measurements of
marine mercury levels by taking thousands of samples around the world over half a decade.