We are the shelled creatures of the ocean, the oysters, mussels, clams, urchins and starfish. We require calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite and calcite to build our shells and skeletons, as do some species of zooplankton and phytoplankton, coralline algae and the coral reef building organisms. We have survived and thrived in a marine environment that has maintained its stable pH balance for millions of years, but within the last two hundred years, since human beings have become the dominant species on Earth, with the Industrial Revolution, rapidly burning through the available reserves of coal, oil and gas, the ocean has absorbed most of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by human activity, with potentially disastrous results for us.

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