While it doesn't roll off the tongue as well as "ocean acidification," another way of describing the same issue would be "ocean becoming less basic."

What we are really talking about is where the water in the ocean is at on the pH scale. The pH scale is used to measure how acidic or basic a liquid is and ranges from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most basic).

A pH of 7 is neutral (ideally, our drinking water would be neutral). This scale is logarithmic - meaning that each integer value is 10 times more acidic/basic than the next value. For example, a liquid that started with a pH of 5 and was changed to a pH of 7 is now 100 times more basic.

When applying pH to the ocean environment, small changes (pH changing from 8.2 to 8.1, for example) can mean huge impacts (life or death) to marine organisms.

Either way -- "ocean acidification" or "ocean becoming less basic" -- the scientific community has shown that this phenomenon is happening.

The geological record has proven that the oceans have evolved through acidic states before, but this evolution has occurred over thousands of years. One of the concerns the scientific community has today is the rate that pH is changing in the ocean. This accelerated change in pH is directly related to the amount of fossil fuels we've burned in the last 200 years (particularly the last 50).

There is an abundance of information out there on any topic imaginable -- some of it has been more rigorously reviewed and tested and other information has not, so it can be overwhelming to sort through it all or even know how best to access it.

For those interested in finding out more information on ocean acidification, here are a few ways in which you could educate yourself with sound science on the matter:

1. If you want to access peer-reviewed science journals: do a google "scholar" search (it's one of the subheadings you can click on under 'more') on the Internet. A 2006 paper, "The impacts of climate change in coastal marine systems," by Harley et al. provides an excellent overview that includes ocean acidification.

2. See what books or movies the Homer Public Library has on its shelves.

3. If you would like to talk to a local scientist: the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies, Cook Inletkeeper, the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District, Kachemak Bay Campus, Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, and NOAA offices are just a few places you could try (there are many more). Folks in these organizations could at least point you in the right direction for accessing scientifically legitimate information.

Megan Murphy is a biological oceanography master's candidateat the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks.