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A Solution for Coral Reefs in Peril
Alien54 writes "At the recent Coral Reef Symposium in Bali, Indonesia, scientists concluded that most of the world's ocean reefs have been killed or severely damaged with the remainder in certain jeopardy. Disastrous reverses in reef health threaten marine biodiversity, tourism, fisheries and shore protection worldwide. Reefs die for many reasons: rising water temperatures, sewage flows, eutrophication, disease, and negligence. A reef ecosystem that took hundreds of years to grow can be destroyed in a single afternoon by dredging, dynamite or cyanide fishing. But there is a solution. In pilot installations in Mexico, Panama, Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea, artificial reefs have been built where corals grow rapidly even in stressed environments. Applying a low voltage electrical current (completely safe for swimmers and marine life) to a submerged conductive structure causes dissolved mineral crystals in seawater to preciptate and adhere to that structure. Surviving coral fragments are mechanically attached, and end up doing very well indeed. During the 1998 warming, fewer than 5% of the natural reef corals survived. But on the artificial reefs, 80% of corals not only survived, they flourished. Corals from these reefs are now recolonizing the surrounding natural habitats."
This is the kind of technology our species needs to invest more time into. Bringing this planet back to life. Not that we should abandon our adventures into more efficient living for ourselves, but we owe it to our planet to keep it alive if we have the ability to do so.
In the distant future, when we venture beyond this rock, do we really want to leave behind a giant ball of toxic tar orbiting the sun? It seems like we're on the verge of doing just that...if we even make it that far.
Wire laced with electrical current to simulate a reef? What's so natural about that? Maybe the reefs are supposed to die down to 5% every once in a while.
Remember the problems we have from preventing forest fires?
Davak
What happens when our entire ecosystem becomes "artificial"? The coral can't survive unless we're zapping the rocks they adhere to. I shudder to think how we're going to keep the elephants around...
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The Plural of Coral is Coral. This might seem silly - I don't make the rules - but that's how it is.
You have it wrong in the title and wrong in the last line or article.
Does the phrase "Wipe After Yourself" mean anything to you? The human species, more than any other, has been directly responsible for vast amounts of pollutants spewed into the environment. So, yeah, it is our problem to solve because we are the ones who caused it.
"Plants and animals die every day, and have for millions of years. All of a sudden it's a problem we need to solve?"
They have but we are the equivalent of a massive meteor strike. We accomplish in one generation what used to happen in a million years. Since we supposedly have the power to think and claim to be capable of moral choices I'd say just throwing our hands up in the air is a pretty lame and lazy excuse.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Of course, any time you see an article that begins along the lines of "scientists have concluded" or "scientists agree" you can pretty much bet that it's a reprinted press release of some group, there's an agenda attached, and your bullshit detector should go into high gear. That's not to say that there's a nonzero probability of truth, just that you should be extremely cautious.
There aren't many "conclusions" in science - even in the areas that lend themselves to the most concrete of measurements (such as physics), refinements and changes never seem to stop. In areas like biology and climatology where the relationships between the data sources and even the data itself are extremely complex and difficult to understand and interpret, it's pretty safe to call bullshit on anyone who claims to have an answer so perfect that we can "conclude" inquiry into the area.
Unfortunately (for serious environmentalists), many of these bullshit artists are found in the environmental movement where they are perfectly safe because the mere act of questioning them is treated as heresy. One can even speculate that the environmental movement has merely taken over the "the world is ending; you must follow us to be saved - and by the way, if any of you goddamned heathens question us, we'll burn your heretecal ass at the stake" meme from organized religion. This is also often phrased along the lines of "the situation is too serious for debate [or more research]! We must act [spend / offer up tithes to the goddess Giaa] now!" There has always been (and probably always will be) a large group of people whom, for some bizzare reason, want to believe the world is about to end and that they (the annointed / enlightened ones) must Act Now to save it. Organized religion has exploited this for centuries, and now the bulk of the environmental movement has jumped on the bandwagon.
Serious environmental research and debate is crucial for us having a nice place to exist and that's important (and worth protecting, spending money on, etc), but watching a bunch of sheep run around bleating about the end of the world (or the crucial coral reefs) makes me nausious. That being said, I'm all for reducing pollution and keeping an eye on things, but not under the auspices of alarmist sensationalism.
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana