[HN Gopher] Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, r... ___________________________________________________________________ Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds Author : elorant Score : 40 points Date : 2021-04-03 21:48 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.smh.com.au) (TXT) w3m dump (www.smh.com.au) | bb123 wrote: | This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is | slipping through our fingers. I fear I'll never get a chance to | see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that | my children won't. Is there anything we can do as individuals to | help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like | any amount of money we could hope to donate isn't going to make a | drop of difference to sea temperature change. Coral reefs aren't | like tigers or pandas, they're just too delicate and complex to | survive in any human made environment. | deanCommie wrote: | What do climate change denialists think about stories like this? | | Do they | | A) Think it's a complete lie/exaggeraiton, and the Barrier Reef | will be fine? | | B) Think it's happening but not because of human activity (a | massive die off across thousands of kilometers is totally | natural, dude) | | C) Agree that it's caused by humans, but that it's too late to do | anything about (probably true), but that also it's not worth | taking action on the REST of our emissions even though it could | help prevent extinctions and irreversible ecosystem changes in | areas we haven't even discussed yet. | | D) Agree that it's caused by humans, but trying to do anything | will destroy the economy, and the livelyhood of people that | depend on it, so it's not worth doing | | E) Agree that it's caused by humans, and renewable energy is | cheap enough now that the economy will be fine, but trying to do | anything about it will cause a reduction in corporate profits for | a couple of companies, so it's not worth doing. | | As recently as 10 years ago it feels like most conservatives were | in Category A | | Looking at the statements of most right-wing politicians, it | seems that we are approaching critical mass of entry into group | D. | | How do people live with themselves knowing the mental gymnastics | they are doing to remain "right" and never admit their thinking | was flawed in any way shape or form... | ghostpepper wrote: | This is very sad but seems inevitable. Corals are fascinating | organisms, behaving as both animals and plants, but more | importantly they are the foundation of the ocean ecosystems where | they exist. Hundreds of millions of people depend on them | indirectly. | | If you want to learn more about coral bleaching there is a great | documentary called Chasing Coral, available on Netflix and | YouTube. | MattGaiser wrote: | The documentary: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGGBGcjdjXA | | Off to watch it now. | amelius wrote: | Perhaps a stupid question, but why wouldn't coral reefs naturally | move to colder areas (closer to the poles)? | | EDIT: turns out they do: https://e360.yale.edu/features/as- | oceans-warm-tropical-coral... | I_Byte wrote: | The problem isn't necessarily that they won't move to colder | areas (well that is a problem for coastal regions susceptible | to hurricanes, etc, but I digress). The problem is that the | waters around those reefs are warming up faster than the reefs | could ever possibly hope to move. Reefs are built by corals | excreting calcium carbonate onto their attached surface. This | process is an incredibly slow one with mature reefs taking many | hundreds of thousands of years to form. The reefs can't keep | ahead of water temperatures that are projected to change within | the next 50 years. | lmilcin wrote: | Acidity increases everywhere and does not depend on | temperature. | | Also, coral reefs grow extremely slowly. | mikedilger wrote: | Article has no link. Here is the report: | | https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/science-policy... | mikedilger wrote: | The report sites a lot of papers, many of which by one report | author Hoegh-Guldberg who has been studying reefs and claiming | they are at risk since at least 1999. One of the latest of | those papers puts it like this (ideas which the article does | not accurately represent): "Even if the goals | of the Paris Climate Agreement are achieved, coral reefs are | likely to decline by 70-90% relative to their current abundance | by midcentury." "Although alarming, coral | communities that survive will play a key role in the | regeneration of reefs by mid-to-late century. Here, we argue | for a coordinated, global coral reef conservation strategy that | is centred on 50 large (500 km2) regions that are the least | vulnerable to climate change and which are positioned to | facilitate future coral reef regeneration." | | Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove, Kennedy, E. V., Beyer, H.L., McClennen, | C., Possingham, H.P., 2018. Securing a Long-term Future for | Coral Reefs. Trends Ecol. Evol. 33, 936-944. | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.09.006 | | They are not "doomed" they are "at risk". ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-04-03 23:01 UTC)