Peak Oil and Climate Change: The argument of Peak Oil is that production rate of oil, a finite non-renewable geological resource, will ultimately reach a maximum and then decline. There is no debate that this will happen, but there is disagreement about when it will occur. Peak Oil does not mean “running out of oil” but when the peak has been reached, about 50% of the oil that will be ultimately extracted will have been used. In the short term the price of oil is controlled by the imbalance between supply and demand. The most significant long term impacts relate to the IPCC scenarios predicting CO2 production from now to 2100.

Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Biology:1) The UW is developing an experimental facility at Friday Harbor Laboratories for studies of the impact of ocean acidification on marine biology. The components of this facility will be 1) a carbonate system analytical lab, 2) a shore based facility for small scale experimental studies, 3) an in-water mesocosm facility for studies of the impacts on food-web structures and ecosystems.