Fifth of world's corals already dead, say experts

[Barrett808]

Source: AFP

POZNAN, Poland (AFP) – Almost a fifth of the planet's coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday.

The report, released by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, warned that on current trends, growing levels of greenhouse gases will destroy many of the remaining reefs over the next 20 to 40 years.

"If nothing is done to substantially cut emissions, we could effectively lose coral reefs as we know them, with major coral extinctions," said Clive Wilkinson, the organisation's coordinator.

The paper was issued on the sidelines of the December 1-12 negotiations on a new global treaty on climate change, taking place under the UN flag.

Half a billion people around the world depend on coral reefs for food and tourism, according to a common estimate.

Read more: http://desdemonadespair.blogspot.com/2008/12/fifth-of-world-corals-already-dead-say.html

[jpak]

1. Deniers can STFU

n/t

[Divine Discontent]

24. amen!!

I will probably go off on the next moron that says I'm a 'tree hugger' or a 'hippie' or whatever when I say we need to push our leaders to protect our planet.

These designs on dozens of different shirts, button, stickers, mugs & more! http://www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable/1434671

[dipsydoodle]

2. That is truly terrible

x(

[Fumesucker]

3. I believe the actual mechanism causing the coral die off is warming ocean temperatures..

Not directly carbon emissions but a secondary effect of those emissions.

I read about this some years ago so my recollection is a bit dim.

[Barrett808]

4. Yes, also ocean acidification, overfishing, and drag trawling...

...there are multiple stressors on carbonate platforms, and their future looks bleak indeed. :(

[hatrack]

5. Oops!

On behalf of the networks, I'd like to apologize for the Reality Intrusion (TM).

We return now to regularly scheduled coverage of Oprah's weight, Angelina's lips and Brad's left nut.

[The Stranger]

6. OVERPOPULATION.

Too many people on the planet to support, and each one valued more than other entire species.

[ozone_man]

27. This is really the issue.

That we value our species over all others. And we feel the need to overpopulate the Earth. Dominionist type thinking and the religion that fosters it need to change. We've been fruitful and multiplied enough already.

[Quantess]

29. The planet is infested with humans.

I know, that makes me sound like a misanthrope, but I'm trying to be fair and objective. We are an infestation.

[quidam56]

7. END MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL !!!

Appalachia is Third World America http://www.wisecountyissues.com we can not stand anymore prosperity in Wise County, Virginia

[GliderGuider]

19. Enough, already.

[annabanana]

8. I was fortunate enough to have gone scuba diving

down in the British Virgin Islands in the late 1970's. The underwater scenery was lush and colorful. Everywhere you looked, there was something beautiful and remarkable, mystifying and magical.

Two years ago I went snorkling around the US VI... The seafloor was sere and flat.. the fantastic colors and formerly feathery tubes were bleached and empty. It was a sad day for me.

[pleah]

9. The world is commiting a slow, painful suicide.

We kill our oceans, we kill ourselves. :(

[liberation]

10. In geological time a century is a remarkable fast time

Nothing slow about it...

[GliderGuider]

11. Humanity has smashed into a wall at top speed

but because we've got our head up our collective ass, we haven't quite realized it yet.

[pleah]

15. Sadly, you are correct. n/t

[Joey Liberal]

12. It's what republicans like nt

[blueclown]

16. It gets them hard just thinking about it. n/t

[dysfunctional press]

13. does anyone know of some good spots where the coral is still doing well.?

i haven't gone diving in the past 7 years...we're planning on making a trip later this next year..or early 2010. i wonder if it's even worth doing anymore...:shrug:

even 8 or 9 years ago, when we went to the florida keys- it was amazing how badly the reefs had been damaged by over-diving and agricultural run-off. i can't imagine what it must look like today.

[GliderGuider]

18. Why, so you can go dive on it?

I saw a talk a few years ago by an adventurous young man whose specialty was finding completely unspoiled parts of the world, then coming back and telling people about them. :banghead:

If I did know a location that still had good coral, I sure as hell wouldn't talk about it on the internet.

[Barrett808]

20. Scripps has a new report that says Las Animas and Cabo Pulmo look pretty good:

Expeditions Reveal Gulf of California's Deep Sea Secrets, As Well as Human Imprints
http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=941

I saw Cabo Pulmo a few years ago, and it looked okay.

[onenote]

23. actually, some parts of the keys are doing better than they were 8 or 9 years ago

Some aren't. Islamorada is still rather bleak. But Key Largo, of all things, is doing better now that it was when I first dove it a dozen years ago. The corals are still stressed and far from reccovered, but the fish life is much more abundant.

[dysfunctional press]

26. key largo was one of the first places we dove...

we only did one dive in pennekamp park, and it was atrocious...luckily we went with a smaller dive-operator who had some fantastic patch reefs well away from the park that he knew about and took us to. plus- i really detest diving off the cattle boats.

[Cetacea]

14. As long as the gays can't married.

I hate these bastards who stare down cold hard scientific data and come up with an opposite "truth" to forward their agendas. They have been doing it since the very beginning of the environmental movement in the sixties and they want proof of climate change, as if there weren't enough data already.
Bastards.

[SallyMander]

17. "One of the penalties of an ecological education

is that one lives alone in a world of wounds..."

-Aldo Leopold

(This conservation biologist completely agrees :( )

[Barrett808]

21. Not entirely alone -- check out my blog, Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™
http://desdemonadespair.blogspot.com

We can console each other there...

[Piewhacket]

22. The Oceans are dying. What will we eat?

Soylent Green?

[emilyg]

25. k

[Eryemil]

28. The human race will look back in a thousand years and weep in shame

That is if we live that long.

[superconnected]

30. about 50 actually. 100 will be really bad, but will see the results in our life times.

[DemBones DemBones]

31. This ought to be a major news story.

How sad that it isn't seen as more important than Blagovich and other stories that won't impact the survival of life on earth. This is another wake-up call.