It is no longer a matter of waiting. Our planet’s systems of life are now falling apart under the cooker of global warming. It’s starting in the oceans, where scientsts said it would.
One of the most disturbing signs of the scouring of life from the Earth’s oceans is what’s happening to our coral reefs. At an alarming pace, they are dying. A report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday says that while just three years ago, 41 percent of the Earth’s coral reefs were healthy, only 30 percent of our planet’s coral reefs remain healthy. In the Caribbean Sea, between 80 and 98 percent of elkhorn and staghorn coral is dead.
The government report acknowledges that global warming is the top cause for the great wave of death sweeping the Earth’s coral reefs. Corals live close to the water’s surface, and depend upon a reliable water temperature to survive. The hot water that has been created through global climate change has cooked massive numbers of corals to death.
The biological richness of the seas depends in large part upon the habitat provided by coral reefs. Billions of human beings depend upon the seas for their survival, but “>stocks of seafood are growing thin. The collapse of the oceans may soon spill upon the land.
So, what is our government doing about this crisis? The Republicans say that action now would be too much of a burden upon American corporations. So, the Republicans propose decades more research. They propose developing whiz bang technology… in the future… to deal with the problem… later.
Our planet is not waiting for the Republicans, and neither must we.
Poor coral…
Poor coral? Poor yuppies. No more ahi tuna for them to eat at ten dollars per ounce.
But seriously – how about poor poor? You know, the impoverished people of the Earth who make their living by eating what they can catch from the seas? There are people in tropical climates who can actually walk out onto reefs and harvest food for their families – cowries, for example. When small villages do this at neap tides, it’s actually a quite sustainable way for these people to live. Now, those reefs are being ripped apart.
People are starving. Poor them, yes.
Well, corals are animals and they’re almost ALL DEAD now.
I didn’t say we shouldn’t pity the poor people too, but at least their species is connected to it even if it isn’t their fault. Coral, left alone, does naught but good for people as far as I can recall.