Reflection on Antacid Creation to Counter Global Warming
- Apr 22
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 24
Abstract
Ocean acidification is a detrimental and rapidly occurring process happening to the ocean, harming marine life and lessening the ability for carbon sequestration due to destabilizing of calcifiers. In order to mitigate this problem, scientists have replicated the natural stabilizing processes of mineral runoff into the ocean to raise pH and therefore sequester more carbon from the atmosphere—both by the increase of shell builders made from calcium carbonate as well as the waste and detritus of carbon rich phytoplankton and zooplankton falling to the deep ocean floor. In August 2025, graduate student Adam Subhas led a project to pump 16,200 gallons of sodium hydroxide (called “pure alkalinity” by Subhas) into a region of the Atlantic called the Wilkinson Basin, about 50 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Along with colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Subhas rapidly dispersed the sodium hydroxide into the water, along with red dye in order to track its effects. This geoengineering process is called “ocean alkalinity enhancement” and works like antacids for the ocean. The study also employed many individual robots in the water, testing results related to pH. The experiment ended up raising the pH from 7.95 to 8.3 in some areas. This is a major shift, especially considering that between the Industrial Revolution and 2024, the average pH of surface seawater dropped from 8.2 to 8.04.
Adding alkalinity to the ocean is not a new idea, in fact, in 1995, Haroon Kheshgi, a chemical engineer at Exxon, proposed adding huge quantities of lime to the sea. Although Subhas’ experiment seemed especially promising, many scientists have concerns about the long term effects of a large-scale implementation of ocean alkalinity enhancement, such as safety for marine life. High concentrations of alkaline can limit the availability of carbon dioxide and increase murkiness of seawater, harming phytoplankton. Scientists also worry about the rocks being mined for minerals, as they can sometimes contain nutrients and heavy metals that create algal blooms or have toxic effects which can bioaccumulate, as well as the detrimental effects of mining the rocks. Adding too much alkalinity also risks spontaneous runaway accumulation of solid minerals, releasing carbon dioxide and lowering pH. Although long term effects seem daunting, Subhas’ team has done a lot of research to design safe practices.
With current climate change denialism, this article is especially pertinent. The author, Ferris Jabr, explains how citizens and scientists alike often jump to conclusions about new experiments, and this comes down to the very root of the issue of climate change. People tend to either refuse to come to terms with environmental effects or, even more detrimentally, use the novelty of unique experiments such as these as cover for why renewable strategies are ineffective. Jabr intends to educate those who deny the effectiveness of mitigating strategies, while also recognizing that even projects such as ocean alkalinity enhancement cannot bring us back to a pre- industrial climate. Overall, Jabr’s writing is multifaceted, offering a hopeful strategy while also recognizing that this is not one world- solving solution. The title states exactly what is being done in the experiment, and it acknowledges multiple perspectives.
Knowledge
I chose this article because I found ocean acidification to be an interesting topic, and I was curious about what mitigation strategies were taking place, as changing the pH of such a large body of water seemed like such a daunting task. I also especially liked the attention- grabbing title, which allowed me to relate what we are learning about the ocean to my understanding of pH from Chemistry last year. I had absolutely no knowledge of ocean alkalinity enhancement prior to reading this article, and it really allowed me to understand even further what must be recognized when approaching ocean conservation efforts. I also have a strong appreciation for modeling human processes after the natural world, and the way the experiment modeled the process of mineral runoff from acid rain advantageously to make the ocean absorb more carbon was extremely interesting.
Connections
The topic of curbing ocean acidification is both extremely interesting and important while also being a very sad reality. The fact that we have exploited Earth’s resources to the point that we must extract chemicals to dump into the ocean that will not even undo the damage we have done- only hopefully prevent future effects- shows the long term effects of climate denial. This experiment offers a hopeful perspective as Subhas exemplifies the younger generation doing meaningful work towards reducing human impact on the environment, but also shows how dire of a crisis we are really in. It is a call to action for everyone to model their own processes after the natural world, as well as clearly showing that we cannot deny our impacts anymore.
Personally, I found Subhas’ research before he implemented the project to be extremely pertinent to our work in Honors Environmental Science. The article describes their holistic approach; “Over the course of a year, Subhas and his colleagues conducted more than 50 meetings and workshops with fishermen, tribal communities, policymakers and local businesses” (Jabr). This process reminded me of our Rivers Podcast, as it demonstrated the necessity of acknowledging multiple perspectives and avoiding Tragedy of the Commons in using public resources.
Questions
1) If this sort of project were to go large scale, would people likely start to justify ocean acidification because more alkalinity can just be added to the ocean? Even though it would not reverse the effects (only prevent future damage), would people claim that it would? Also, would people justify mining for oil since we would also be mining rocks for minerals?
2) What more could scientists like Subhas do to curb public pushback on new experiments?
3) The article referenced historical prejudice about geoengineering, has this occurred more because of climate change denialism or repeated scientific failures?
Citation
Jabr, Ferris. “The Scientists Making Antacids for the Sea to Help Counter Global Warming.” The New York Times, 8 January 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/magazine/ocean-acidification-carbon-geoengineering.html. Accessed 8 January 2026.
Comments