(Disclaimer: I have never met Sigourney Weaver, but I’m now convinced we would be best friends, and that the only barrier has been our inability to have actually met one another.)

I am now prepared to say with some certainty that my good friend (c’mon it really is possible) Sigourney Weaver cares immensely for the environment. I began to suspect it when she narrated Planet Earth, which while not an “environmental” film, is laden with subtle calls for stewardship. Then came this whole Avatar thing, which I have heard people say is about our own planet and how we need to take care of it. Now with The Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification, I am beyond sure that she either loves and is concerned for our planet very much or… she’s just trying to attract a bevy of best friends just like me…

The Acid Test is a brief, extremely informative film that introduces its audience to an entirely new aspect of CO2 pollution that carries with it equally destructive consequences as global warming. Staff from the National Resource Defense Council, and top scientists offer a concise explanation of why our ocean’s acidity is increasing, why the pace is potentially disastrous, and what we can do about it. I fancy myself a man “in the know” when it comes to environmental matters, but in watching this film, I was most struck by how I knew nothing about this issue at all. It never crossed my mind to think about the direct effects of CO2 levels rising in the oceans as well as the atmosphere. It turns out that as much as a quarter of the CO2 that human beings produce makes its way directly into the world’s oceans.

Sigourney.

As the CO2 content rises so does the acidity level, until the oceans begin to be unsuitable habitats for much of the marine life that makes up the base of our food web. What could begin as the disappearance of many shellfish and microorganisms could lead to the wiping out of many marine species already teetering on the edge. While it was our characteristically narrow perspective of the world that prevented us from thinking about this issue in the first place, I feel I should still bring this back to human beings. If the food webs in the world’s oceans collapse, we will see an enormous strain on already limited food sources in our world become nearly unsustainable.

This Wednesday, March 10th at 7:30, the film will be showing at the Naro Theater, and will be followed by a star-studded (in the environmental activist sort of way) panel including Emcee Christy Everett of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and guest speakers Lisa Suatoni of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Dr. Debbie Bronk of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Dr. Margaret Mulholland of Old Dominion University, former Virginia Beach Delegate Joe Bouchard, and VA Eastern Shore fisherman and writer Wayne Creed. The collective knowledge of this panel is stunning and will undoubtedly be a wonderful resource for anyone looking to learn more about the problem of Ocean Acidification, and the consequences of CO2 emissions in general.

As Sigourney Weaver (aka Mother Earth/ Gaea) said, “We have to choose: We can go on as we have forcing future generations to survive somehow, without the vast ocean resources that have sustained us, or we can move beyond fossil fuels…” Learning to safeguard the health of our world’s oceans could not be more important to our region. By virtue of our geography the things we do have a disproportionate affect on the entirety of our planet’s oceans. We have a responsibility both morally and fiscally to the waters that surround our region and Sigourney Weaver, adorable sea creatures, and I hope you all can make it out to learn more about what we, as a region, can do to curb and eventually end this reckless pollution of our planet’s waters.