To: US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources NOAA Outreach Organizers

From: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Patrick Meyer

Subject: Concerning Rise in Ocean Acidification Developing More Outreach Programs

Dear Senators Hello Outreach Organizers,

I hope that you are having a good day. I am writing on behalf of the NOAA’s ocean acidification research
team to discus potential outreach programs could be developed to raise awareness for this problem. A
problem we are encountering is the lack of awareness of ocean acidification and even if people know
what it is, they are usually not aware of the problems it could pose. I believe that the best ways to raise
awareness would be to create outreach programs that target younger people. The most efficient way to
reach the younger audience would be to create these programs in conjunction with schools. By
coordinating with schools, we will have a varied demographic to spread our information with. Multiple
programs could be created with focuses on different age groups. a concerning change we have been
noticing

I believe that these programs must remain engaging and if not, they will be a waste of money. I think the
key to keeping students engaged is to make the programs somewhat interactive. This could be
accomplished by bringing samples around to show the changes the acidity is causing. This would be
effective if we decide to go the way of going to the students. Another potential outreach program would
be to create permanent science centers that could have aquariums that show a healthy marine
ecosystem and keep students engaged with live creatures.

Please let me know your availability in the coming days so we can set up a meeting to discus these ideas
further In person.

concerning the acidity of our oceans. Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been

absorbed by the ocean and releasing carbonic acid into the waters. This rise will cause long

term damage to the marine ecosystem that will seep into human life. More acidic environment

expediates the destruction of coral reefs causing a loss of habitat for the bottom of the marine

food chain. This will cascade throughout the chain and ultimately affect every marine animal.

This loss of marine life will unfortunately result in the loss of many resources used by humans

and most importantly food.

This problem is primarily caused by the rising levels of green house gasses in the atmosphere

and specifically carbon dioxide. This is where the committee can help. Drafting legislation that

decreases the use of fossil fuels in the country. Specifically, by eliminating the subsidies given to

fossil fuel industry each year and reallocating this money to the renewable resource sector.

Eliminating fossil fuel use over night is unrealistic but supporting the continuation of there use

should not be the position of the US government. I hope that this can spark a conversation
about changing the future of the energy to a more.

Thank you for your time,

Patrick Meyer

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration