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Great Barrier Reef Has Worst Coral Die-Off Ever, Report Finds (usatoday.com)

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered from its worst coral die-off ever recorded, according to a new study from the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies based at James Cook University. "Stress from the unusually warm ocean water heated by man-made climate change and the natural El Nino climate pattern caused the die-off," reports USA Today. At more than 1,400 miles long, Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef and the planet's biggest structure made by living organisms. In the northernmost section of the reef, which had been considered the most "pristine," some 67% of the coral died. The good news, scientists said, was that central and southern sections of the reef fared far better, with "only" 6% and 1% of the coral dead, respectively. Coral reefs result from the work of little polyps, creatures only a few millimeters long, budded on top of one another. Over centuries, the shells of these creatures combine to form the exotic shapes of coral reefs. Tiny differences in the anatomy of each polyp species affect the shape of their shells and produce the exotic shapes of each reef. The vibrant colors that draw thousands of tourists to the Great Barrier Reef each year come from algae that live in the corals tissue. When water temperatures become too high, coral becomes stressed and expels the algae, which leave the coral a bleached white color. Mass coral bleaching is a new phenomenon and was never observed before the 1980s as global warming ramped up. Besides their beauty, reefs shelter land from storms, and are also a habitat for myriads of species.

235 comments

  1. Alternate sources by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 4, Informative
    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  2. Fake News by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1, Troll

    This is just some of that fake news the Republicans warned us about. Probably from that damned Barney Slanders.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Fake News by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      This is just some of that fake news the Republicans warned us about. Probably from that damned Barney Slanders.

      Whoa, tough crowd here today.

      Get a sense of humor, good people.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  3. Presidential response... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

    - Donald Trump

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265895292191248385

    1. Re: Presidential response... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's definitely just a coincidence that 100 years after we started pumping massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere that the planet starts dying. Chinese lies!!

    2. Re: Presidential response... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the planet starts dying

      You have effectively ended the discussion with this nonsense statement.

    3. Re:Presidential response... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

      - Donald Trump

      https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265895292191248385

      That's been taken out of context.

      The context is that Trump doesn't have any idea of what's going to come out of his mouth before he opens it.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    4. Re:Presidential response... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Still better than Clinton.

    5. Re: Presidential response... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But...but...but... Gaia!

    6. Re:Presidential response... by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      It's a fucking Twitter post; there is no context. That's a problem with using it as a platform to try to articulate political positions. It's shallow, like our political discourse these days.

    7. Re: Presidential response... by laurencetux · · Score: 1

      just to clear this up it would be very difficult to actually destroy the actual planet

      now removing the room for Humans is "doable"

      the difference between the BIOSphere and the GEOsphere is non trivial

    8. Re: Presidential response... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The planet started dying 4 billion years ago.

  4. Lies! by Tablizer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Recount!

    1. Re:Lies! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Recount!

      And won't that be interesting?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:Lies! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      @#&$ moderators can't take a joke.

    3. Re:Lies! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      @#&$ moderators can't take a joke.

      Seriously. A pathetic lack of humor genes in some people. Wasting mod points on obvious jokes.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  5. Time to go there to take some selfies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While it lasts!

  6. Re:bah humbug global warming by Namarrgon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Thank you Mr Coward. But while water quality does impact the health of the GBR in a few specific areas, it does not cause bleaching.

    This is what AIMS has to say about recent bleaching events:

    In 2016, record oceans temperatures have led to record widespread coral bleaching on Australian coral reefs. This bleaching is part of the ongoing third global bleaching event, declared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2015.

    Between February and May, the Great Barrier Reef experienced record warm sea surface temperatures. Extensive field surveys and aerial surveys found bleaching was the most widespread and severe in the Far Northern management area, between Cape York and Port Douglas. Here, bleaching intensity was ‘Severe’ (more than 60% community bleaching). Bleaching intensity decreased along a southerly gradient. While most reefs exhibited some degree of bleaching, this bleaching varied in intensity (from less than 10% to over 90% community bleaching) and was patchy throughout most of the management area.

    The impact from this bleaching event, the most widespread and severe ever recorded on the Great Barrier Reef, is still unfolding. Based on in-water monitoring surveys, overall coral mortality is (as of June 2016) at 22% for the entire Great Barrier Reef. Coral mortality is highest in the northern section. Post-bleaching reef monitoring surveys towards the end of the year will provide further clarity on the full extent of coral mortality.

    --
    Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  7. Interesting take, but ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    ... what does the Trump administration have to say about it?

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:Interesting take, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      We'll build a barrier, and it'll be huge

    2. Re:Interesting take, but ... by acrimonious+howard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The fish will pay!
      Because climate change is a hoax...
      By the chinese.
      Uh, but seriously, he says whatever it takes to distract. He actually says one thing and then appoints a a team of climate change deniers to the most key positions of his cabinet.
      And all of this might just be intended to distract the public from his conflicts of interest.

    3. Re:Interesting take, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NO! You're the fish!

    4. Re:Interesting take, but ... by gtall · · Score: 1

      Something uninteresting.

    5. Re:Interesting take, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      More interesting is what other administrations haven't done about this.

      The guy doesn't even take office for 10 weeks and suddenly all the worlds woes of the past generation is his? How about holding your own leadership's feet to the fire instead of giving them a pass? You're playing politics with a dire matter. It's disgusting to anyone who really cares.

    6. Re:Interesting take, but ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, BeauHD is losing his touch. Just like PopeRatzo, he can attribute anything bad to Trump.

  8. Too bad for kids by NineNine · · Score: 0

    I feel bad for kids these days. The world is going to be a nastier place to live in than it is today in many ways, environmentally, notwithstanding. Go, Trump!

  9. Meanwhile in Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Art Sisneros' the Texas Elector (for the Electoral College) has withdrawn from the job because he cannot in good conscious vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming Electoral College.

    What he should have done is vote against Trump or abstain. You cannot have a President that the people voted AGAINST put in power by the Electoral College while he's in breach of the Constitution Article 1, Section 9. If Trump's claim to power is 'the rules say he wins despite getting far fewer votes', then he has to obey the rules. He has to divest the businesses with foreign income, and put his US income business into blind trusts.

    He hasn't met world leaders yet, and he's meeting with his real estate business partners instead.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/us/politics/donald-trump-international-business.html?_r=0

    He cannot take office while he's getting streams of income (and yes it includes Russian income, and not just from his crappy little Trump branded vodka), and the Electoral College should head the voters and not elect this man against the wishes of the voters.

    GOP, WTF were you thinking? He doesn't keep promises, did you really think he would divest his foreign income? That he would keep that promise? That you, uniquely were the people he wouldn't lie to? He'd sell out his mother for wealth and power, do you think he wouldn't sell out his country?

    1. Re:Meanwhile in Texas by JoeMerchant · · Score: 0

      As a voter, I'd rather be heeded than headed.

      As for divestment, he still has time, whether or not he complies by inauguration day will be an interesting test.

      As for the elector, he's making a weaker statement than defiance of tradition, but stronger than just going with the will of the people he represents... that is his choice, like all of us who voted made at the ballot box - we could vote quietly, or scream to the world who we support / don't want.

    2. Re:Meanwhile in Texas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meanwhile in Reality:
      Obama is STILL the president.
      Trump makes your wealth look like a smashed piggy bank(empty).
      The average box of owl poop is probably smarter.

        - A concerned American

  10. jeez by acrimonious+howard · · Score: 2

    Just my anecdotal experiences of diving 10 times, reefs were always more grey than historical pictures of the area. I try to consider myself logical, but I've always had an unfulfilled feeling when diving, and then unnerved when I see this kind of evidence of the cause. Diving is like being let in as a guest to a powerfully beautiful host called nature. It feels like my co-partiers are tearing up the place, and it doesn't feel good. I hope that enough people go diving and experience this.

    1. Re:jeez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks to the shit ass politicians and corporations creating bubble after bubble, we've been struggling to make ends meet and keep up with student debt for nearly ten years. Pretty much since I got out of college. An expensive ass hobby like diving is not in the cards. I'm going to be happy to save enough for my kids to have a couple of modestly nice trips to remember from their childhoods.

      Want to fix global warming? Do it at the government level. More than 80% of the working population is fucked and aren't going to be able to help you. I recommend you plow the QE budget into replacements for coal plants, an HVDC smart grid nationwide, and battery technology.

    2. Re:jeez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just my anecdotal experiences of diving 10 times, reefs were always more grey than historical pictures of the area. I try to consider myself logical, but I've always had an unfulfilled feeling when diving, and then unnerved when I see this kind of evidence of the cause. Diving is like being let in as a guest to a powerfully beautiful host called nature. It feels like my co-partiers are tearing up the place, and it doesn't feel good. I hope that enough people go diving and experience this.

      100000% this.

      The bright, vibrant colours you see in pictures aren't what you will ever see underwater on a tourist trip.

      Red light, and the colour tones nearest red, are basically gone after 1 meter of seawater. There's simply not enough light in that spectrum making it from the surface, to the coral, to your eyes. That's why a lot of fish are red - the colour basically vanishes unless it's up in your face.

      The other thing the photographers do is they take photos with the strongest possible flash, and only take photos in the coolest parts of the reef; nearest the cool open water and on a slope, not on the hot flat deck that's right below the surface and catches the refracted sunlight 10 hours a day with the least mass flow.

      Other things to consider are that you're less likely to see Nemo and more likely to find small hussars, sea cucumbers, and the stingrays and reef sharks.

    3. Re:jeez by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      Depends on where you dive - the reefs off Key Largo, Florida have been crappy since the 70s, at least compared to the ones further down in the Keys.

      The anecdotes from professionals who have been diving all over the world from virtually the first days of SCUBA match yours:

      https://www.mission-blue.org/

    4. Re:jeez by Xest · · Score: 1

      "The bright, vibrant colours you see in pictures aren't what you will ever see underwater on a tourist trip.

      Red light, and the colour tones nearest red, are basically gone after 1 meter of seawater. There's simply not enough light in that spectrum making it from the surface, to the coral, to your eyes. That's why a lot of fish are red - the colour basically vanishes unless it's up in your face."

      Nonsense, I do a lot of underwater photography and this simply isn't true. Our eyes are incredibly good at adjusting to the reduction in the colours as we go deeper, and it's only really when you start going below around 20metres that you really start to get so little light that your eyes just can't compensate well anymore. Reefs are incredibly colourful down to the common basic recreational limit of 18m - something like a rainbow parrotfish will look exactly as colourful as it does in any of the most colourful pictures you can find on Google images at 15 metres.

      There are of course times this isn't true, when there are issues with water conditions such as diving in water that is suffering some form of algae bloom, or silt kick up where the algae or silt particulate in the water will of course have light bounced of of itself.

      "The other thing the photographers do is they take photos with the strongest possible flash, and only take photos in the coolest parts of the reef; nearest the cool open water and on a slope, not on the hot flat deck that's right below the surface and catches the refracted sunlight 10 hours a day with the least mass flow."

      Again, nonsense. We take photos wherever we can find a great photo and that's never restricted by depth or geography, but simply whether we're in the right place at the right time to get a great subject. That can be at 30cm, or it can be at 100 metres. My camera has perfectly good enough white balance to shoot consistently without my strobes down to about 10 metres. Below that I do indeed take strobes, but I've had some great shots without them even at 18m.

      "Other things to consider are that you're less likely to see Nemo and more likely to find small hussars, sea cucumbers, and the stingrays and reef sharks."

      That really depends where you go, many tourist dives are actually unlikely to see things like reef sharks and stingrays because animals tend to get bigger the deeper the water and they tend to keep tourists who aren't that comfortable with diving in relatively shallow (i.e. above 18m) dives. In some regions you of course get these creatures coming into the shallows, but for the most part on a tourist dive you're going to stay fairly close to the coast, and you'll see countless smaller fish like you would typically see in the most colourful marine aquariums.

      It's fairly obvious you've never been diving, because you're basically wrong about everything. The GP was referring to the fact that in some areas the damage to reefs is substantial such that the beautiful colours are gone, not that reefs that are healthy are not colourful below 1 metre.

    5. Re:jeez by Xest · · Score: 1

      I'll let you into a current diving secret, and you may find this news rather positive. Because of the current lack of tourism in Egypt due to terrorist attacks elsewhere in Africa on tourists, the Egyptian revolution and subsequent military crackdowns as a result of the coup, and the bombing of the Russian civilian airliner by ISIS or whoever decided to take responsibility the red sea reefs have made an astounding and profound recovery in just a couple of years.

      The sheer volume of life and quality of the reef is probably one of the best in the world right now, many old time divers have told me it's the most vibrant they've seen it since the sport was in it's infancy over 40 years ago, and the great thing is it's incredibly cheap now because they're desperate for tourists and because the tourist trade workers are desperate for jobs there's more than enough people to look after you so you're getting 5 star service for 2 star travel prices with one of the best reefs int he world to boot.

      But in general, it may also be a question of where you have decided to dive. Some of the most hyped places are actually not that great as dive sites - the Great Barrier Reef isn't that great a diving spot, similarly the Belize hole is heavily hyped, but overrated. In contrast the Red Sea currently before tourism picks up again, places like Komodo, and the Galapagos which are far more expensive, will give you a much more positive picture. Also the lesser visited Caribbean islands are good spots - ignore the most popular like Aruba, Jamaica, Barbados and so forth and go for places like Turks and Caicos. If you really have the money then get yourself to remote places like Ascension Island, and the few boats that go to the most remote of the Galapagos Islands.

      Outside of this even local diving can be great, you don't get quite the widespread colours of the most beautiful tropical reefs here in the UK for example (though there is more colour under the UK waters than most realise), but for sheer fun not much beats diving with seals in the Farne Islands and down in Cornwall, and for history buffs and wreck divers, you don't get much better than Scapa Flow where the bulk of Germany's fleet (74 ships) was scuttled at the end of World War 1 to cripple their naval ability. Most places in the world will have great diving sites of some sort or another.

      But the take away from the Red Sea scenario specifically is this, that although we're undoubtedly doing immense damage to reefs, it seems some at least can recover and recover quickly if we leave them alone. This wont be true everywhere, as much of the Great Barrier reef is already protected, and because of its exposure to the Pacific does seem to make it more prone to this sort of event, but if we can stop it I have faith that these reefs wont be gone forever, I believe they can and will recover - the difficulty is in stopping it in the first place, if we can do our part and manage that, then nature can and will fix the rest for us as it has temporarily in the Red Sea now that humans have been heavily removed from the equation.

    6. Re:jeez by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As of right now there still is really prestige diving. You just have to go to Indonesia.

  11. Tourists can't really be mad ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tourism has to be the worst form of global warming. Flying thousands of miles,dive boat exhaust,bus ride to airlie beach,smoke a bunch of spliffs, for literally no reason except to take a selfie and loose Dutch women.

    All these global warming complainers are the same people that insist everyone should "experience other cultures", "be at one with nature" (driving their 22mpg subarus into the mountains every weekend), etc.

    If you want to make a real impact, stay home.

    1. Re:Tourists can't really be mad ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are also the ones with the worst consumption habits. They require inefficient agriculture, inefficient cargo transportation, and so on, just to feel special.

    2. Re: Tourists can't really be mad ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You had me at loose Dutch women. I don't care about the coral, but I'll sex them on the coral.

  12. Re: bah humbug global warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the coral is naturally white in color.
    the organisms that live on it are what gives it color. with increased sedimentation it lowers the light levels and keeps the symbiotic polyps and algae from thriving.

  13. Re: bah humbug global warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I might also add that sunscreen is also a major culprit. 10% of all bleaching is caused by sunscreen. yes the kind you lather on before u go swimming. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080129-sunscreen-coral.html

  14. unlikely by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    diving is a really, really expensive thing to go do. That's sorta the problem. The rust belters in America who just voted for Trump (or who didn't vote Hilary because they couldn't bring themselves to) really don't care about coral reefs. They care about next month's rent. Until you can fix their economy you're not going to get anyone to care. The environment doesn't really matter to somebody taking out their second payday loan...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like you live here! Here, in my neighborhood of shitty townhomes, or down the street in the square-mile sized trailer park, or up the street at the other square-mile trailer park ... Wait, you probably do since median US income is $55k per household. Barely enough to buy a basic townhouse let alone something with any measure of land.

    2. Re:unlikely by MightyMartian · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Their kids will care, and will ask those Rust Belters "Why did you allow some fucking moron to screw things up, just because you didn't want to switch careers?"

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    3. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the magic career we should be switching to? Do you even hear yourself talk?

    4. Re:unlikely by Mashiki · · Score: 2

      Their kids will care, and will ask those Rust Belters "Why did you allow some fucking moron to screw things up, just because you didn't want to switch careers?"

      Sorry, they tried to switch careers. Then their job was outsourced to a H1B and imported labor.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    5. Re:unlikely by Mashiki · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Americans. Fucking up the world for the rest of us and then arguing about it

      Thanks guys.

      Good thing I'm not American then. I just happen to realize that if you want to have an actual "change on policy" with something like this, you need two things: People need to have secure jobs with disposable incomes that they don't mind pissing a bit away on. You also need cheap energy, to help offset the overall costs on society. The current environmentalist belief is "green energy is good" but that's far too expensive. When your electricity rate goes from 0.07 to 0.18kWh in less then 10 years, and people have problems keeping the lights on? They're going to say fuck you and your environmental ideas--my family comes first. That's followed by not having a stable job, or the possibility of losing said job not to someone in the country. But someone from outside the country because crony capitalists are dollar chasing. Now you know why Trump was elected, because that "rust belt" and "fly over country" or as people in the Greater Toronto Area would call everyone else outside of that big city "rednecks" are putting their families and themselves first because it's reached a breaking point for them.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    6. Re:unlikely by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      Depends on where you start from, a couple of college kids in Miami could afford to go SCUBA diving on weekends for about the same money other college kids would blow on booze at the strip in Ft. Lauderdale (in the 1980s).

      These days, video programs and documentaries make the world's oceans more accessible to the rust belt, grain belt, bible belt, and every other belt you can name than ever before. The presentations tend to be a bit biased, and it's nothing like being there in person, but if we all went in person, there would be nothing left to see.

    7. Re:unlikely by JoeMerchant · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not just rust belters, a common saying among red party boaters in Florida is that we should find a really great specimen of a Manatee, shoot it, stuff it, put it in a museum, and then get rid of all the god damned speed limits for boats in coastal manatee habitat, because f- these giant cow things that have been here for millions of years, I've got twin 250s on my new open fisherman and I damn well want to open the throttle straight out of the marina instead of putzing out to open water before I can throw a wake.

      Yeah, boomers don't give a shit what the place will look like when they're gone.

    8. Re:unlikely by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      They'll tell them the same thing our grandparent generation told us when we asked them about Hitler: We were hungry, we were out of a job, and there was someone who offered both. When you're hungry and freezing, you don't give a shit about whether someone else gets a problem.

      Some might sugar coat it to feel better about themselves, but that's the naked truth.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:unlikely by acrimonious+howard · · Score: 2

      I can understand the hopelessness. I'm getting older and know options feel/are limited. Location matters. I wouldn't intentionally talk down to anyone, all I can say is do your best to get out. If possible move the family to a better state, better city. If possible, keep looking for better work, try to leverage your experience, but look for industries that are guaranteed a future. I've seen a 45yr old office administrator become a seriously well paid CEO before, nothing is impossible.

      But be damned sure to put money away for kids' college, and warn everyone you know not to have kids until you can afford to do so. And what should /they/ (and maybe you) be going into? That's easy to Google, you'll probably find STEM careers, which is what I did. I'm tired of hearing how college isn't worth it, from people who don't make much. I don't make as much as I'd like, but the money I do have is from a career that I wouldn't have started without college. I know it's money, it's a risk, but it's a pretty good risk.

      Republicans always respond 'pull yourself by your bootstraps' (which I do see it has some truth obviously), but they're also making laws to make it harder to do so, so their corporate buddies can increase profit. No childcare for single parents, no free condoms (probably another reason I can afford a vaca) or other family planning, no healthcare to mitigate that family-financially-devastating-illness. Sorry this turned political, but I'm seeing the hopelessness translate to electing a race-baiting bankruptcy expert fraud as leader of the corporate mega rich party, and I know I have to start saying something. He and they are not working for you. Don't come back with 'neither are the Dems' because I've benefitted from democratic policies and organizations, probably preventing me from being as poor as people who can't afford to go SCUBA diving. I also have had time to read and learn about issues from enough sources to really know which are relatively unbiased.

    10. Re:unlikely by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      And in 50 to 200 years, you can grow as many manatee as you want in jars and dump a million into the ocean.

      These are only problems from a static viewpoint. A hundred years from now is less predictable than now is from 1900, when a lack of filthy cars meant waking up every morning with a layer of clean, organic, natural horse shit dust on your furniture.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    11. Re:unlikely by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      a lack of filthy cars meant waking up every morning with a layer of clean, organic, natural horse shit dust on your furniture.

      You paint the picture with words so vividly.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for the measured comment; I'll return some thoughts in kind.
      My wife and I are 35. We've been waiting to have kids until we could "afford" to do so. We've run out of time. It's now or skip it, which is utterly heartbreaking.

      On the subject of school - I worked 2 jobs through college while taking as many classes as I could (to get the max value out of my tuition dollars). I don't think I slept more than 5 hours a night ever. I graduated on the Dean's list with two majors and a minor (STEM, Finance and a foreign language).

      We've been looking for better work. We've been crawling our way up. I've not taken more than a week of vacation at any of my jobs since graduating (3 of them), getting my vacation days paid out when I switched. I've evolved my career with each switch. My wife has done much the same.

      And here's where we're at with all of that. Having gone to a middle-of-the-road school (with academic scholarship help and some need based grants) I'm 3 years from paying off my student loans. We cashed out my IRAs from the first two jobs and rolled them into a cheap duplex at the bottom of the housing crash - fairly shrewd move since the IRAs only ever lost money and it got us away from paying rent. We cook at home. Travel really isn't something we can afford, so we never do.

      All that, and we don't have savings that would last us four months. As far as I ever hear it out of politicians' mouths, "retraining" is a propaganda euphemism designed to distract from how screwed we are. Compared to buying power, housing costs are still out of whack by maybe 40%. Medical costs are ... horrifying. College is also horrifying.
      http://www.mybudget360.com/the...
      http://www.thebubblebubble.com...
      http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/16...

      At this point, I don't have much of anywhere to go with this. I'm pretty fucking tired of being told that where we're at is my fault.

    13. Re:unlikely by Xest · · Score: 1

      Of course expensive is always going to be relative, but I don't think this is necessarily true. I wouldn't for example say that it's more expensive than something like skiing, or snowboarding, or having a hobby such as playing with motorbikes, or hotrods. I think most people could afford to dive, if they wanted to, but beyond that I think you're right - it's just not on most people's radar.

      I understand there has actually been a decrease in people diving in recent years, so I think there is probably some income link to it whether real, or perceived, I suspect maybe the biggest factor is for people who don't live near a diving site and that the really prohibitive part is actually the transport to a diving site if you have to fly or drive a thousand miles. This said, many rust belters probably don't realise they have some of the best wreck diving sites in the world next to them in the great lakes - that sort of thing is just not well advertised, so I'd wager awareness of the accessibility of the sport is as big a factor as decreasing income.

    14. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      While I appreciate that there's a deep-seated biological urge to have children, the reality of it is that a world with a geometrically expanding population and dwindling resources can't actually sustain everyone having children. It may be heart breaking to have to pass on having children, but it'll probably be worse to spend your twilight years watching your children struggle to get by because you couldn't afford to give them as good a start in life as others.

      This isn't intended on a dig on you, I really do believe you've done the right thing in holding off this long. But at this phase in human society, we have to stop looking at having children as a natural right or there won't be any human children in a few hundred years.

    15. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When your electricity rate goes from 0.07 to 0.18kWh in less then 10 years, and people have problems keeping the lights on?

      Oh cry me a river. You still have the cheapest energy in the world and some of the highest salaries. Outside of the US people pay double that in developed countries (current European rates are close to 30 US cents per kWh), and maybe 10 times that in the poorer ones.

      You could try using less energy, possibly by wasting less of it heating ridiculous sized properties?

    16. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Watch the movie Idiocracy, and lament.

    17. Re:unlikely by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Oh cry me a river. You still have the cheapest energy in the world and some of the highest salaries. Outside of the US people pay double that in developed countries (current European rates are close to 30 US cents per kWh), and maybe 10 times that in the poorer ones.

      You could try using less energy, possibly by wasting less of it heating ridiculous sized properties?

      Really? Still have the cheapest energy. Sure, let's add in gasoline, the requirement that if you live outside of a major city -- to get anywhere you need to drive. If you need a specialist, you're probably driving 200km or more, 500km isn't uncommon. Yep, that's sure making things cheap. Lets toss in those "high salaries" where the median income is around $50k/year. Now let's subtract 30% of that due to the dollar being depressed against every other western country. Don't worry if I'm showing your ignorance here. Now let's also add in that as soon as you live 2-3hrs outside of the "border area" the costs for goods now goes through the roof. $6-9 loaf of bread, $12/4L of milk, cans of soup run as high as $4, beef is around $15/0.454kg. Those things still cheap? Average cell plan starts at around $40/mo, you're paying for local and long distance on top of that. Are we still cheap? Oh...right.

      You could try using less energy, possibly by wasting less of it heating ridiculous sized properties?

      You apparently have no idea how small houses are here. 1000sqft(that's 92sq m) is the norm, very "big and ridiculous" sized properties. Most houses in Europe are larger, around 105sq m(UK clocks in at the smallest with 85 sq m--just a FYI). Seriously stop being an idiot.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    18. Re:unlikely by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      +100 Insightful.

    19. Re:unlikely by Ogive17 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm in the rust belt. The people who voted for Trump fall into 1 of 2 categories. 1 - educated but grew up Republican and have always voted for someone with an R next to their name. 2 - uneducated and unwilling to learn a new trade. Don't understand how much welfare they already receive but think it's unfair others also benefit from the government.

      Sometimes I feel like I'm in the twilight zone living in my rural town of 25k people. Per capita, we require far more government assistance due to the amount of roads/utilities/police and fire coverage because we're so damn spread out.. most people don't realize how many millions of dollars in state and federal grants (i.e. aid) we receive each year to keep our town looking nice.

      The one thing I'm proud of is that my town has always supported school tax levies as well as tax levies for the public library and the disability support program in the county.

      --
      "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
    20. Re:unlikely by Greystripe · · Score: 2

      Are you insane? Having children is literally a natural right. If we stop having children it won't take a few hundred years.

    21. Re:unlikely by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      You believe the shit they show on CSI, too, don't you? Can you enhance that image of the future for me?

      Yes, the next 100 years _should_ result in greater progress than the last 100, if we don't backslide into some stagnant pool of true conservatism. The thing about future progress is: it's unpredictable. Dolly the sheep was "cloned" (depending on what you accept as a definition of cloning) in 1996. 20 years later we've made tremendous progress in genome sequencing, gene splicing, identification of genetic sources of diseases and other traits, but, we're still a long long way from Jurassic Park, even with living specimens to work from. How long? Nobody really knows, but practical, full capability cloning seems to be sharing the "progress" list with cold fusion and artificial intelligence, always at least 5 to 10 years away from serious application.

    22. Re:unlikely by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      And, about the horse shit dust - not everybody could afford a horse, far less per capita than actually own and drive cars in the US today. And, all in all, I'd much rather raise my children in a house covered in horse shit dust than coal-borne mercury ash, diesel soot, PCBs, and all the other hallmarks of "modern progress."

    23. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ANTI-HUMAN EUGENECIST GLOBALIST SHILL DETECTED!!! ALERT!!! ALERT!!!

      Do not take anything this coward says seriously, he has been brainwashed by the antihumanist cult known as globalism. In order to stem population growth, it needs to be done in the third world through modernization and industrialization. I repeat, Westerners having less children is only kiling the West, not solving the problem of a "geometrically expanding population" (that sounded cool though, didn't it?). Killing the West is the #1 objective of antihumanists/globalists.

      DO NOT PLAY INTO THEIR BRAINWASHING!!! ALERT!!!

      Have as many kids as you can and teach them who the real enemy is, and do it right quick!

    24. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because automobiles put out mercury ash, diesel soot (here in the US they don't at least no one drives those pieces of shit), or PCBs. Go to hell, hippie trash scum sucker.

    25. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anecdotal Evidence is Fun! I'm in the rust belt. I've never voted for someone with an R next to my name before in my life. I am college educated. I work in IT, so I don't, just yet today, need to learn a new trade. I want more business opportunity so I have better job security and flexibility. More opportunity from small, medium, and even large businesses means more jobs, better pay, better job security, and in turn better quality of life for my people. I don't necessarily need to vote for these things, but I need my people to thrive again. So I voted for Trump.

      Oh, those reasons and I love to see the salty tears of the millennials and other special snowflakes flow when for the first time in their life they got to feel what it's like to lose without recourse or a participation trophy or someone to coddle them and tell them it's OK. So, so sweet to watch that dumpster-fire of an implosion of ideology.

    26. Re:unlikely by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      A hundred years from now is less predictable than now is from 1900

      Indeed, few people in 1900 would have thought they'd live to see the horrors of Two World Wars.

      Things have improved since 1945 in many ways, but there is no guarantee that many people will see the other side of WW3.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    27. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So Trump is to blame for what has already happened? Yeah, that's logical. Clean up your own backyard first.

    28. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry. Now that Trump is in charge, the US dollar has only increased. Along with all major indexes at record simultaneous highs.

    29. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And kill kill kill! Have 10 or 20 kids! Get them all to KILL KILL KILL the gay vegan mooooooooooooooslims or they're gonna getcha! KILL! MURDER! WAR! DESTRUCTION! KILL! WAR! MURDER! KILL!

    30. Re: unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everything will be Trump's fault come January 21st. It will no longer be racist/sexist to dissent.

    31. Re: unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Great Lakes diving is in very cold and deep water. Bring along a heavy wetsuit.

    32. Re:unlikely by aquanaut · · Score: 1

      You would have to be uneducated and ignorant to not have any concern for preserving coral reef's, and other aquatic ecosystems. Destroying over half a billion years of evolution on a geographical time-scale shorter than the lifespan of some trees. For what.

      Don't forget that the destruction of these ecosystems has its own economic cost and will affect millions of lives that depend on them. Many of which live in a house without a door and no electricity in the afternoon. And no pay day loans.

      People should focus on living sustainable lives. Not having more children than they can afford to care for, etc. Then, trust me, they could afford to go diving if that is what they want to do. Most of my diver friends have to dive on a budget. Not against technology, it allows me to compute and dive, but If we finish converting the natural world into paved roadways and shopping malls, people will be miserable, but maybe they won't know why. The "luxuries" of our society have nothing commensurate in value to offer us than the beauty and scientific value of the natural world.

    33. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot: 3 = Educated and intelligent enough to realize Clinton would have been worse for America; Republican for business reasons, normally votes for Democrats too keep church separated from state (pro-abortion, pro-same sex marriage) (most R candidates are too far to the right.) Voting for Clinton would have been worse than voting for Carly Forina. Trump is actually a center candidate and the best hope this country has to fix the damage caused by Obama. Every IT professional in this country should have voted for Trump.

    34. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in the rust belt and my electricity bill went down by almost half over the last 3 years. I can easily handle doubling or even tripling of my current electric bill and would have zero issues with doing so, especially if it meant replacing coal or natural gas power plants with wind, solar, hydro-electric.

    35. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quite the opposite, we care about our kids and don't want them to grow up with the crap we've endured under Obama. We want them to have jobs, be able to afford to have a roof over their head and food to eat, rather than be taxed to death paying for the healthcare of the welfare-state. Clinton wanted to do nothing but maintain the status quo and drive the stake deeper into the heart of the middle class so her cronies on Wall Street could make more money outsourcing America to the lowest bidder.

    36. Re:unlikely by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Just because you can't get laid...

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    37. Re:unlikely by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Then you'd better tell your kids to forget manufacturing. It's a dead end.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    38. Re:unlikely by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      And kill kill kill! Have 10 or 20 kids! Get them all to KILL KILL KILL the gay vegan mooooooooooooooslims or they're gonna getcha! KILL! MURDER! WAR! DESTRUCTION! KILL! WAR! MURDER! KILL!

      This was the perfect nonsense response to the super-nonsense grandparent poster.

    39. Re:unlikely by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Watch the movie Idiocracy, and lament.

      Idiocracy was a fun amusing movie, but you shouldn't take the science or its implications seriously. It's based on the most vile and discredited eugenics philosophy.

    40. Re:unlikely by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      Nobody really knows, but practical, full capability cloning seems to be sharing the "progress" list with cold fusion and artificial intelligence, always at least 5 to 10 years away from serious application.

      Because it doesn't seem financially viable. Ok, so... you cloned Dolly. So what? What will it actually GET you? Cloning a creature is an order of magnitude more expensive than naturally birthing one from two parents, so the question is.. why would we want to? Why would we care?

      It's the difference between theoretical science and applied science. The theoretical science part has certainly leaped ahead of applied science, which has somewhat shrugged because we don't see the benefits to cloning yet. Everything is going to be very expensive because you have experts working on the clone and it takes a lot of resources, and they have to be paid. Where does the money come from? Why should it be funded? The only semi-plausible commercial use I can think of is organ-cloning, and that's about it. It's still going to be ridiculously expensive since it's a single clone from and for a single person.

    41. Re:unlikely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By all means get off the net and the grid and move to Alaska with the other misanthropic environmental weirdos.
      Go build your horseshit shack and be happy in your regressive lifestyle. The rest of the world won't miss you.
      You can boast about how you can "survive indefinitely*" even after some solar flare wipes out all technology.

      * at least until you need to head to town for tools/parts/etc. to fix your aging contraptions (nothing that runs on fuel or was made using any of course), or supplies you can't find/make yourself, or medical treatments more complicated than stitching and lancing

    42. Re:unlikely by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      Cloning dolly is many orders of magnitude easier than cloning a wooly mammoth, or sabre tooth tiger - even when cost is no object.

    43. Re: unlikely by Xest · · Score: 1

      Those are basically the same conditions we dive in in the UK, through the summer months you'd be fine in a semi-dry suit which can be picked up quite cheaply. The other option that will suit year round is a dry suit, which are much more expensive, but can be hired pretty cheaply.

      For a typical dive you'll still feel far warmer than you would on a winters day, so it's really not too bad, though I agree it's hardly the same as diving along the equator.

    44. Re: unlikely by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      There is an odd man out in that list, and that is Hitler. All the others were never really elected. Hitler was. Eventually, he was elected in a rigged election, granted, but he ran in elections before and he did get a sizable portion of the votes.

      None of the rest were ever elected in any way.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    45. Re: unlikely by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Hitler was not elected. His National Socialist party did get something like 40% of the vote, which meant he was the logical candidate for Chancellor. Once he was Chancellor, he just kept grabbing more and more power without bothering with elections.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    46. Re: unlikely by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Judging by the Bush-Obama transition, sometime in December things will cease to be Bush's fault and will be Trump's fault.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    47. Re: unlikely by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      European systems usually require coalition governments, 40% is actually quite a high turnout for a single party, if you take a look at some current governments, Austria currently has a coalition government of two parties, neither of which has more than 30% itself, only together they reach the 50%.

      40% is a wet dream for most contemporary governments that aren't relying on a first-past-the-post system where you only have essentially two parties to choose from. And that's not very different from Germany in the 1930s, only that Germany had even more parties back then than most European countries have today.

      Hitler created a coalition government with one of the less significant parties that lifted him above the 50%, then started dismantling the democratic structures one by one, culminating in the Enabling Act, which pretty much established him as a dictator.

      But in the end, until that very moment, he did actually (ab)use the democratic system that was in place. What made him possible was disenfranchised people who voted for him, and politicians and parties that considered him the lesser evil.

      Sounds kinda familiar, if you think about it...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  15. Re: bah humbug global warming by Namarrgon · · Score: 4, Informative

    To be accurate, coral bleaching is caused by environmental stress, as it said in my first link - and polluted water or heavy sedimentation are possible sources of stress. Even excessive freshwater can cause bleaching (which contributed in 2008 and 2011).

    However, those are not the cause of this event, as my second link made quite clear.

    --
    Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  16. Shameless Troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How is that "more realistic" than the links quoted above? It's more realistic than the Outdide Magazine orbitiary it debunks, but it agrees with the articles above when it notes that this "is the most severe coral bleaching on record."

  17. Not sure which one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The current team don't have anyone for environment I think. Nearest swamp thing is probably "Michal Catazaro, energy lobbyist whose clients include American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Hess, Devon Energy, and Encana Oil and Gas" in charge of "Energy Independence".

    On his opinion, the nearest I can find is this:
    http://www.nationalcenter.org/Climate-Gate.html

    "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

    Benefiticial effects????? Really? Well it is making the coral WHITER, and I guess that is what Trump wants.

    (List of Trump transition leaders):
            Defense & National Security, led by Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa.
            Immigration Reform & Building The Wall, led by Danielle Cutrona, counsel to Sen. Jeff Sessions.[46]
            Energy Independence, led by Michael Catanzaro, an energy lobbyist whose clients include American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Hess, Devon Energy, and Encana Oil and Gas.[46][47]
            Tax Reform, led by Jim Carter, a lobbyist employed by Emerson.[46]
            Regulatory Reform, led by Rob Gordon, who serves as staff director/senior policy adviser for the House Natural Resources Committee, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.[46]
            Trade Reform, led by Rolf Lundberg, a lobbyist and former employee of the Chamber of Commerce.[46]
            Education, led by Gerard Robinson of the American Enterprise Institute.[46]
            Transportation & Infrastructure, led by Martin Whitmer, a lobbyist at Whitmer & Worrall whose client include the American Association of Railroads, National Asphalt Pavement Association and the Utilities Technology Council.[46]
            Financial Services Reform, led by Brian Johnson, Chief Financial Institutions Counsel for the House Financial Services Committee
            Healthcare Reform, led by Paula Stannard, former deputy general counsel and acting general counsel of HHS and currently a lawyer at Alston & Bird.[46]
            Veterans Administration Reform, led by Bill Chatfield
            Protecting Americans' Constitutional Rights, led by Ken Klukowski, senior counsel and director of strategic affairs for the First Liberty Institute.[46]

  18. Re:Calling bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I'll trust the scientists in the article before trusting a random loser on slashdot like you.

  19. Re: bah humbug global warming by acrimonious+howard · · Score: 2
    Thank you for that info, I think it'll change my behavior next time I'm in the ocean. It says at the end:

    "But before we ban sunscreens, we must first determine if local ambient concentrations of sunscreens are positively correlated with coral bleaching events." Danovaro says banning sunscreen won't be necessary, and points out two simple things swimmers can do to reduce their impact on coral: Use sunscreens with physical filters, which reflect instead of absorb ultraviolet radiation; and use eco-friendly chemical sunscreens.

  20. Re:Calling bullshit by Jzanu · · Score: 2

    You're confusing the interpretations resulting from two different environmental pollutants. Particulates in the upper atmosphere directly block sunlight and reduce temperatures, as well as the decades long threat of global nuclear war inducing nuclear winter. CO2 is a greenhouse gas absorbing heat and reflecting it back to the surface raising temperatures. For some time both effects were active. Particulates are now under more control, and the true trend increase in global average temperatures is certain. Amounts vary by model but the validity of the model foundation is solid. Humans burning fossil fuels for energy are releasing geologically stored carbon at a faster rate than it can be reabsorbed by the environment, and that is producing more free CO2 in the atmosphere exacerbating the green house effect. Kids often get these things confused so it isn't your fault.

  21. @hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling

    "Ice Age Fallacy, is to allege that scientists showed concerns about global cooling which did not materialise, therefore there is no need to heed current scientific concerns about climate change.[58] In a 1998 article promoting the Oregon Petition, Fred Singer argued that expert concerns about global warming should be dismissed on the basis that what he called "the same hysterical fears" had supposedly been expressed earlier about global cooling.[59]"

    "Illustrating this argument, for several years an image has been circulated of a Time magazine cover, supposedly dated 1977, showing a penguin above a cover story title "How to Survive the Coming Ice Age". In March 2013, The Mail on Sunday published an article by David Rose, showing this same cover image, to support his claim that there was as much concern in the 1970s about a "looming 'ice age'" as there was now about global warming.[60][61] After researching the authenticity of the magazine cover image, in July 2013, Bryan Walsh, a senior editor at Time, confirmed that the image was a hoax, modified from a 2007 cover story image for "The Global Warming Survival Guide".[58]"

    i.e. you've been led to believe there was a scientific consensus on global cooling due to falling temperatures in the 50s,60s and 70s, and you were likely shown fake Time magazine covers to illustrate this, and thus you are supposed to ignore the scientific consensus on global warming.

    But the temperatures didn't fall in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, so even a cursive check on the facts shows you how you've been misled.
    http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

    1. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Whibla · · Score: 1

      I too can personally remember warnings of global cooling in the 70's and, more so, the early 80's, as reported in print media*. I can still hear some of the debates I and my school friends had on the topic (and yes, we were woefully naive).

      What I don't remember is reading about consensus (from the scientific community), the intimate details of the science behind it, long term international bodies being set up to assess, inform, and counteract climate change, and many of the other things that characterise informed debate today.

      The difference between then and now is huge, and I'd suggest that anyone who compares the two, in an attempt to dismiss current fears of climate change, either has an ulterior motive or is engaged in some serious cognitive dissonance.

      *Since it was in national print media there will be copies still in existence. Attempting to deny facts, whichever 'position' you support, is idiotic, and counterproductive.

    2. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      What I don't remember is reading about consensus (from the scientific community)...

      Because back then people were taught critical-thinking skills and the scientific method, and so "consensus" was a non-starter because consensus is irrelevant to whether a theory is valid or false. We were taught about Copernicus and Galileo and how they were persecuted because the "consensus" went against their theories.

      ...the intimate details of the science behind it...

      What "intimate details"? We can't even get them to release un-"adjusted" data. They don't have computer models that accurately track previous climate changes and simultaneously show the future warming rates claimed.

      ...long term international bodies being set up to assess, inform, and counteract climate change...

      The politics is better organized this time around, that I grant you. That has zero bearing on whether their theories are horseshit or not. Actually, the heavy politicization would indicate AGW is more a political movement than a scientific theory. If AGW theories had enough solid evidence, the heavy involvement of politics would not be so essential.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    3. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd rather be spend half my income on building infrastructure I get to use and things that improve my life, like solar/wind power for breathable air, drinkable water and a grid resistant to EMP attacks, solar flares and various other man-made or natural risks.

      Or we could buy another three boats that we can't afford to buy ammo for...

      Luckily, Trump will probably nuke NK to show the world his penis is NOT small and that will let us under spend on anything other than bob shelters and iodine pills.

    4. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I've been alive since the mid-'50s and YES, we were all warned about the coming ice age and snowball-Earth and all the rest of the crap through the '60s and '70s. Same alarmism as today, complete with scientists warning that "action must be taken *now*!".

      No doubt it seemed that way in your echo chamber of hysterical wackjobs, but there was never a scientific consensus on that like there is on this. Only a tiny, vocal few espoused that view. The media will reprint anything which attracts eyeballs, true or not, and that has always been true. They used to present such articles as a jnow we have whole networks like CNN and Faux news which show little else. If the global cooling scare had been anything like what you claim, it would be trivial to find supporting citations today. AGW denialists like yourself, but better at saving newspapers and magazines, would post the citations all day every day as a means of shutting up people who care about physics.

      If you want to argue that global cooling messaging was as prevalent in your time as AGW is now, you're going to have to put up some evidence. So far, everyone else who has made the same claim has failed pathetically, so I urge you to try so that we can all have a good laugh.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look up aerosols and particulates, then look up the greenhouse effect. Thus your confusion comes not from science but from popular reporting on two disparate phenomenon. That and bad memory clouded by desire to support a biased mental frame. Lots of vocabulary for you to look up.

    6. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by BlueStrat · · Score: 0

      ...but there was never a scientific consensus on that like there is on this.

      You keep talking about this 'consensus' like it means anything scientifically.

      It. Does. Not.

      Consensus is strictly political. It has no place in scientific research. It has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not a theory is true or false. At one time it was the "scientific consensus" that the Earth was flat and that the Sun revolved around the Earth.

      Just stop. It doesn't make you or your argument more believable. In fact, the opposite is true among those who can employ critical thinking.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    7. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You keep talking about this 'consensus' like it means anything scientifically.

      It is a useful gauge for the relative merit of ideas. If the majority of experts in a field believe something, it is likely true unless the whole field is invalid. Since it isn't, the thing is likely true.

      Just stop. It doesn't make you or your argument more believable. In fact, the opposite is true among those who can employ critical thinking.

      What you just did was attempt derailment by attacking my idea while failing to address the point raised. If you get near a legitimate point, then make it, but right now you're just being evasive because you know you're full of shit. Put up some evidence, or shut the fuck up about global cooling, or accept that you're throwing away your credibility by crying hypocritically.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consensus is an implicit part of science. To say that it has no place is "not even wrong". Empiricism does not provide any other means of verification than supporting evidence. We cannot prove statements, only disprove them. Consensus is how we decide what constitutes evidence, and how we distinguish between valid and invalid theories.

      The best part of all of this is that you have no idea what the science actually says. You don't even have the vocabulary required to disagree with the theory sensibly, you just wave your hands and say, "It's not happening!" Well, it is happening. We have all sorts of measurements which say that CO2 is going up, and so is the global temperature. So now you need some sort of convincing alternate explanation for where this heat energy is going, or I suppose some alternate properties of CO2. You don't just get to ignore evidence and shout down your opponents with "Nuh uh! You're wrong!"

    9. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

      ...but there was never a scientific consensus on that like there is on this.

      You keep talking about this 'consensus' like it means anything scientifically. It. Does. Not.

      Actually, it does. This is something non-scientists really really don't understand, because they're all familiar with all the hero scientist stories and not so much with the actual process of science. I love the hero scientist stories, too, but the final, and the most important part of science is that you have to explain your results to other scientists, and get them to understand it and understand and credit the evidence.

      Science is not a one person endeavor . Science is, in essence, a series of protocols to ensure that you are observing the world, and not fooling yourself, and an essential part of this is that you have to get other people's eyes looking at what you do. If you cannot explain it to other scientists and have them look at your data and agree that you're seeing what you say you're seeing: it's not science.

      In the popular culture, this is called "scientific consensus."

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    10. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by BlueStrat · · Score: 0

      It is a useful gauge for the relative merit of ideas.

      Wrong, wrong, wrong!

      Not in science.

      The **ONLY** thing that matters in scientific research is proving or disproving a theory. Facts that can be proven or dis-proven care not for opinions or consensus. It matters not one whit how many scientists agree or disagree. As long as the results can be duplicated independently it doesn't matter how many disagree. The reverse is also true; as long as the results can be dis-proven OR cannot be duplicated independently, it's nothing more than an unproven hypothesis.

      Cripes, has nobody here had even the very basics of how science works explained to them? Try cracking a book sometime and get your face out of that tracking device that happens to have a screen.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    11. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read this. You've misunderstood basic language because you only know the popular press reporting on science not the actual research side.

    12. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by BlueStrat · · Score: 0

      Actually, it does. This is something non-scientists really really don't understand, because they're all familiar with all the hero scientist stories and not so much with the actual process of science. I love the hero scientist stories, too, but the final, and the most important part of science is that you have to explain your results to other scientists, and get them to understand it and understand and credit the evidence.

      Wrong.

      The only thing that matters is being able to reproduce the proof independently. If the results proving a theory are unable to be duplicated independently it's nothing more than an unproven hypothesis. It does not matter how many scientists agree or disagree. Consensus is a political construct. It has no bearing on scientific research whatsoever. If it did, we'd just vote for what we want to believe is true.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    13. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      You don't seem to understand the difference between science with designed experiment and science through observational study. In ecology and most other life sciences as well as geology and climatology the observational study is in fact the only way to validate results. Read de Vaus "Survey's in Social Science" - in particular chapter 2 interaction of theory and research where "The development of good explanations involves two related processes: theory construction and theory testing. These two processes are not alternative ways of arriving at good theories but represent two stages with different starting points." This is the point where observational research is science because observations are made, connections theorized, and then connections are compared to the expected results based on the model. The final step is modification of the model to better explain the data. This is the final step of theory testing that loops back to the start, and the entire cycle is repeated and documented. That documentation is what gets published and reviewed by other trained scientists, and it is when they agree with the collection and interpretation that it is called "consensus".

    14. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      Observations are not reproduced, analysis is and that is the easiest part of publishing. You really don't understand this but are stuck on arguing a false point. Read more.

    15. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      Observations are not reproduced...

      Observations must be able to be verified independently and/or be reproducible. Until then it is an unproven hypothesis. Analysis of unverifiable/un-reproducible observations is a thought experiment, nothing more.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    16. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't recreate an ice core, you can't recreate the introduction of an invasive species. Observations are of states within as proxy for time, or directly before and after over time.

    17. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by vel-ex-tech · · Score: 1

      Let me make sure I follow, since I'm apparently one of those filthy millennials and wasn't alive until the 80s.

      In the 60s and 70s, there was a massive consensus that there was an impending ice age of doom, and the proposed solution by scientific consensus was to live in caves.

      In the 00s and 10s, consensus doesn't matter any more. There was no consensus in the 60s and 70s, and it was just one or two papers that turned out to be wrong. Therefore, we can't trust consensus at all because science is not consensus.

      *blinks*

      Ok.

    18. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The trick that is being played on you again is the same one the oil and gas industry played on you with leaded gas: everything is fine, this is normal, nothing to see here. Exxon was fined by the SEC for knowing about climate change but deliberately hiding the information from shareholders.

    19. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by dywolf · · Score: 1

      Cripes, has nobody here had even the very basics of how science works explained to them?

      Yes, and we are trying to explain it to you, because it's obvious you haven't yet.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    20. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by dywolf · · Score: 1

      if 20 people perform the same experiment/observation, and 19 of them get the same results/conclusion, the 1 left out is not automatically equally valid.
      that is a de facto consensus.

      we're not talking about an opinion poll among scientists.
      we are talking about groups of people who have come to the same conclusions independently.

      using geocentrism as your talking point further reveals your own ignorance on the topic.
      geocentrism did originate as a scientific concept, but as a religious one .
      the consensus you speak of was religious in nature, not scientific.
      science didn't have the ability to prove or disprove it until the invention of the telescope, and once it did it quickly fell out of favor.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    21. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by dywolf · · Score: 1

      as the man said, you are woefully ignorant on this topic, so much so that you lack the vocabulary to even phrase it properly, and are "not even wrong."

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    22. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit.

      When it boils down to the question "What is killing coral reefs?" just picking a boogeyman and calling it a day is NOT science. It's fucking SHIT. If they cared about their work more than they cared about their social status, they'd actually run some concrete testing -- Put some corals in some tanks and do weird shit to the tanks to see if the corals react appropriately. Until then, they're fucking GUESSING. There's no science to that. Until they have some TESTED HYPOTHESES, it's a bedtime story and nothing else. Put some coral in a tank. Breathe on the tank once a day. You just increased the CO2 count for that bit of "ocean" by 100,000% more than all the cars on the planet combined. Did that tank bleach and die off from the "ocean acidification" or did it do just as well as the control tank? Did both tanks die off before the year was over? You call yourself a marine fucking biologist?

      Shit, man, if ANY OTHER PROFESSION had this sort of unprofessional approach of pure bullshit, they would be thrown from the highest window in the building.

      The VPN is down. We suppose it's due to global warming. It's not like we can test for that sort of thing. Please increase our salaries to appropriately deal with global warming, because, like, it's not going away and it's going to keep shutting down the VPN.

    23. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I've been alive since the mid 60s. I remember being told about glaciation cycles and the "next ice age" at school, but it was never something expected to happen in our lifetimes.

      The two are not even remotely, approximately, within two orders of magnitude of "equivalent".

    24. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a fucking retard!

    25. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      I'll just leave this here.

      https://youtu.be/QwviDPo4Rh4

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    26. Re:@hyperbolic propaganda by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      If AGW theories had enough solid evidence, the heavy involvement of politics would not be so essential.

      The last year of politics in the USA have pretty much broken my belief that people can be convinced with logic and a good argument. People now only want confirmation of their previously-held beliefs, and they treat any challenging of it as an attack on their tribe.

      We've come a hell of a long way down from the Enlightment and the Age of Reason that the US Founders tried to import.

  22. Re: bah humbug global warming by JoeMerchant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Dead coral, skeletons, are white.

    Bleaching is a simplification, and basically means the presence of large swaths of long-dead corals, usually corals that died together in a short period of time.

    It's like the forests of trees hundreds of years old that have been clearcut - all we have to do is leave them alone for a few thousand years and they will repopulate to something approximately like what they were before we started messing with them.

  23. Re:bah humbug global warming by LordLucless · · Score: 2

    Bleaching intensity decreased along a southerly gradient. While most reefs exhibited some degree of bleaching, this bleaching varied in intensity (from less than 10% to over 90% community bleaching) and was patchy throughout most of the management area.

    Did that bleaching gradient correlate with a similar temperature gradient? Sea temperatures have risen less than a degree centigrade since the 1800s; if coral reefs are *that* sensitive to temperature changes, they're probably screwed either way - humanity might be speeding it up, but the world's still on a warming trend absent human impact too. It's sad, but organisms that cannot adapt to changing environments die.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  24. Real results, but partly politicised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Disclaimer: I'm a physicist at James Cook University, where this study was published. My mother used to work at AIMS 20 years ago, my sister works for CSIRO in marine research, and my cousin-in-law is currently the Coral Reef ARC's COO.

    These are results published by the Australian Research Council Centre for Coral Reef Studies. Prof. Terry Hughes, who runs this centre at JCU, has basically surrounding himself with like-minded people. The self-citation rate for articles published by the centre is remarkably high, and I quite frankly don't trust Prof. Hughes to do unbiased research, or to critically analyse his own work. There is a pretty strong monoculture of reef research, and I believe it's a pretty serious problem. One of my physics lecturers wrote a rebuttal letter to Prof Hughes that was leaked to the press, and was disciplined for it (one more strike and he's fired). I would really like to see a little more diversity in the people that study this topic.

    That said, I have no reason to doubt the truth of this study. The die-off is real, and is unprecedented in modern times, and elementary physics tells us that increased temperatures due to climate change can only make it worse, not better. My mum's old boss from AIMS, Charlie Veron said in a seminar 10 years ago that the reef is probably doomed, and that even if we manage to stop all CO2 today, there's enough inertia that very little of the reef will survive.

    1. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      grew up in cairns (great barrier reef dive hot spot) and compared to the 80s the reefs is toast. Hell even compared to scuba diving just 8 years ago its gotten worse again still. Yet the local dive / tourism operators keep spouting the same line: "The reef is fine, it's better than ever come to the best reef in the world" yada yada yada.

      You'd think that they would care the most about getting help, but know head in the sand. bunch of red neck fuck heads.

    2. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by erapert · · Score: 1

      1. Your link to the rebuttal is behind a paywall.
      2. Are you saying that a scientist was disciplined for rebutting another scientist?!
      3. If the reef can't adapt then literally it deserves to die-- it's called evolution.

      We need to stop watching Fern Gully and end this "pristine nature" worship. It's not productive, it solves no problems, it's really nothing but facile virtue signalling based on the false premise that pristine nature is valuable and that the earth is somehow damaged just by the presence of humans. We don't have to wantonly destroy everything we see (and we're not wantonly destroying the reef), but we can and should make use of the earth for our benefit. Any other course of action is either irrational or outright self-hatred, right?

    3. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. Sorry about the paywall, I used Google's cache because the page wanted me to run far too much javascript. Here's the link.

      2. More or less. He was disciplined for "not displaying responsibility in respecting the reputations of other colleagues". Honestly, it was a bit strange, and I wasn't the only one in the department that was mildly outraged.

      3. I think we need to make an effort to avoid that though. Even ignoring the idea of "deserving", there are many things on the reef that we could benefit from. For example, there's a type of coral that produces a really powerful natural sunscreen that has inspired an artificial one. It's like the Amazon rainforest - the biodiversity on the reef is a tremendous resource.

    4. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by Bernard+J. · · Score: 1

      Any other course of action is either irrational or outright self-hatred, right?

      Wrong.

      It might help to consider the paradigm of 'fouling the nest' (or not fouling it), and to learn some basic ecology with an emphasis on humans' inescapable reliance on a functioning biosphere. Oh, and get a grip on the fundamentals on the principle of 'the tragedy of the commons'.

      There's a whole lot of other logical fallacy, incorrect statement, and ethical repugnancy in your little spiel, but I'll leave it to you to contemplate (if you're capable of objective self-reflection) why you're so wrong that you're not even wrong. At this basement level in a comment tree there's nothing to be gained by getting too involved with specious nonsense of the sort that you espouse: sufficient that it has been called for what it is.

    5. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you resort to the Ad Hominem attack. Can you actually refute any of the findings or find a reasonable issue with the paper (BTW your rebuttal link is a dead end).

      "That said, I have no reason to doubt the truth of this study."

      So what is your point?

      Is FUD all you've got?

    6. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm adding my perspective as a person knows some of the people involved, and calling for some disruption of the monoculture of research in that area. It would be an ad hominem attack if I were arguing against the content of what they're saying, but I'm not really.

      I'm arguing that we need more different types of people saying it, but I'm not saying that the content is necessarily, or even likely wrong - I'm not qualified to judge the latter, while I am relatively well-qualified for the former, since I know the people and the structure of the organisation.

      I added an updated link to the rebuttal, by the way: here you go.

    7. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by erapert · · Score: 1

      (if you're capable of objective self-reflection)

      Nobody is capable of objective self-reflection.

      As for the rest of what you said: your arrogance and ad hominems don't qualify as a rational argument.

    8. Re:Real results, but partly politicised. by erapert · · Score: 1
      Thanks for posting the link. I found this little gem to be interesting (emphasis added by me):

      “In fact, there are literally hundreds of square kilometres of dead reef-flat on the Great Barrier Reef which was killed due to the slow sea-level fall of about a meter that has occurred over the last 5000 years,” he said. “My point is not that they have probably got this completely wrong but rather what are the quality assurance measures they take to try to ensure they are not telling a misleading story?”

      I thought the sea level was rising thanks to AGW?

      For number three, about avoiding the destruction of the reef... Are there some ways we can do that without costing insane amounts of money and/or resources?

  25. Re:bah humbug global warming by JoeMerchant · · Score: 2, Informative

    Some of the areas of the GBR that are experiencing widespread bleaching are literally hundreds of miles offshore, and a lot of those shorelines are not urban. It's not runoff, it's not industrial pollution, it's a global phenomenon that's making this happen.

  26. Re:It's dead Jim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure OK. Might be messy once per month though.

  27. Simple question on the science by raymorris · · Score: 0

    Perhaps you or another reader can address this question. It is my understanding that natural cycles cause ocean temperatures to vary by a few degrees from year to year. While I'm not familiar with that region specifically, El Nino / La Nina goes about three degrees above or below the average (a swing of about 6 degrees, roughly).

    It's also my understanding that the difference between now and 200 years ago (which could be related to global warming) is less than one degree.

    Am I mistaken? If not, it seems to me this article is ignoring the much larger natural variations in order to blame the die off on the much smaller increase which might be global-warming related.

    1. Re:Simple question on the science by Xest · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You're partly right - the answer really varies as different reefs are affected in different ways, but fundamentally global warming can exacerbate effects such as El Nino/La Nina, so that your 3c increase may become 5c for a time. The issue is that these ecosystems are fragile and it only takes small changes to do immense damage. It's not that nature can't adapt to temperature fluctuations and such, it's that it can't adapt at the rate of change we're forcing on it. In terms of global warming in general consider the Polar Bear, normally climate would change over thousands of years and Polar Bears would become more brown, have less insular fur and move south and become more like grizzlies, but we're forcing change to their environment in decades, that's just not long enough for enough generations to be selected for brown fur - you just aren't going to go from white fur to brown fur (and possibly lose some insulating features) and adapt in that kind of compressed time frame, which is why they're at risk.

      For what it's worth there are reefs that don't seem particularly affected at all by the temperature change, the Great Barrier Reef seems to be one of the most especially fragile ones, and coupled with it's immense size this makes it stand out. See my other post elsewhere on this topic where I point out that the Red Sea reefs are currently at their most vibrant they've been in a long, long time regardless of temperature change, simply because of the reduction in tourism to Egypt. In contrast, much of the Great Barrier Reef is already protected from humans, yet is still suffering. This should really highlight how different reefs are affected in different ways, that they can recover, but recovery needs different things in different reefs - lack of human presence is doing wonders in Egypt's Red Sea, but it's doing nothing for the Great Barrier Reef, my suspicion being that the Great Barrier Reef suffers far more greatly from the changes in a body as large as the Pacific than the far better protected Red Sea does where humans are by far the largest problem.

      Climate change isn't an inherent problem in itself, man-made or natural, you're right, it happens. The problem is the rate of climate change that's occuring right now, that's the real issue here, nature just doesn't have sufficient time to adapt right now which is why we're seeing events like this and why this period is often being called a mass extinction event period.

    2. Re:Simple question on the science by guises · · Score: 2

      Coral die-offs aren't about temperature (mostly), they're not about the greenhouse effect at all, they're a different consequence of having too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. You can read the wiki on it here if you like, but the long and short is that a lot of marine life is very sensitive to the condition of the water, and the drop in ocean pH since the start of the industrial revolution has become an issue.

    3. Re:Simple question on the science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What guises said. Higher CO2 in the air results in the oceans absorbing more CO2. CO2 in water is carbonic acid (like carbonation in your soft drink) and higher acidity causes decreased corral calcification rates.

    4. Re:Simple question on the science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit.

      Bull.

      Shit.

      Go breathe out on a saltwater tank and see how much die-off it experiences. Spoiler Alert: NONE.

      These assholes hate the idea of a repeatable experiment, but there it fucking is. In all its asshole glory. Fuck their "Science" and do some fucking science.

    5. Re:Simple question on the science by Bernard+J. · · Score: 2

      Am I mistaken? If not, it seems to me this article is ignoring the much larger natural variations in order to blame the die off on the much smaller increase which might be global-warming related.

      Yes, you are mistaken, and no, "this article" is not "ignoring the much larger natural variations in order to blame the die off on the much smaller increase which might be global-warming related."

      Many species, including coral polyps and especially their symbiotic zooxanthellæ, are robust to a degree of variability in the temperature of their local environment, as long as that variation occurs around relatively stable means for each respective species. However, they are much more sensitive to medium- to longer-term fluctuations of those means themselves, even if those fluctuations are small compared to the magnitude of short-term fluctuations aaround their physiologically-optimal temperature means.

      If that doesn't make sense, let me put it this way: over shortish periods of time many species can tolerate a degree of fluctuation of temperature away from their preferred sweet spot - but beyond a short period, if those fluctuations begin to lean in one direction, altering the underlying mean, then the organism is in trouble. This physiological response to an excursion from a preferred mean is compounded by the fact that most organisms are less able to tolerate extreme warmer deviations from their mean than they are able to tolerate cooler deviations from the mean, of a similar magnitude. This is depicted by the well-known growth-response curves to temperature for organisms, which are in a great majority of cases skewed to the left (negatively skewed). A good illustration of this phenomenon is shown in the shapes of the curves in the meta-analyses of this paper:

      http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0153343

      The upshot is that most organisms living close to their optimal mean temperatures are more vulnerable to warming than they are to cooling.

      So, yes, corals of the Great Barrier Reef are vulnerable to the several degrees* of underlying, human-caused increase in the mean temperature of their environment. To be precise, they're vulnerable to the toxic metabolites that their symbiotic zooxanthellæ produce when these algæ are warmed above their tolerable thermal maxima (and as figure 9 of the above-linked paper indicates, these are generally lower for autotrophs compared with heterotrophs, which has a whole range of implications for the ecological interactions of trophic webs).

      Of course, none of this precludes the profound chemical effect of ocean acidification on the ability of coral polyps to precipitate calcium carbonate for the construction of their skeletons, or any of a number of other environmental stressors. These all synergise with respect to their impacts, and the result is that coral (as with many other species and ecosystems) are struggling to maintain their populations over the longer term.

      *As others have indicated, the magnitude of the warming underpinning the bleaching event is greater than the aggregate 'greenhouse' gas-caused warming of all of the world's oceans. Conflating the two is a mistake.

    6. Re:Simple question on the science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OP here. If you breathe out enough, it'll experience die-off. No doubt. We have an aquarium in Townsville, where they have to be very careful to make sure the Ph of the water doesn't get too low, or the corals start to die. They're stunningly sensitive to it really.

      It's really basic chemistry though: carbon dioxide + water -> carbonic acid, and calcium carbonate (which is the "skeleton" of corals) readily dissolves in (even slightly) acidic environments.

      Don't take it from me, though: read the science.

  28. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  29. So!? by EzInKy · · Score: 1

    In an age where a person can't even speak his mind without even the least semblance of privacy what does this matter?

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  30. Re:It's dead Jim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You obviously are not married to a middle aged mother.

    Posting AC in case my wife is posting tonight.

  31. atleast they didnt use photos of america samoa... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... this time.

    Plus, this is James Cook, they're not known for thinking. They still think the barrier reef is 1/2 the size that it is, and therefore are always alarmed.

    So put this where you want to, its just more 'scare them to fund me' self-serving 'science'.

  32. Money.. by Z80a · · Score: 2

    Probably the "best" way to fix it is making the alive corals something profitable, like artificially raising the price of something that lives off it tremendously via marketing, de beers style.
    16ms later monsanto would come up with a heat resistant coral and profit off it.

    1. Re:Money.. by jankycoder · · Score: 1

      The idea to make saving the reefs profitable would work in the corporate world but whats causing them to die off is due to something that money cant fix anytime soon only legislation from major polluters not to do so in my opinion but we may have already hit a no return point in saving the reefs and the climate in whole from warming. I think its going to take miracle to save this planet from global warming at this point and i pray for one often.

    2. Re:Money.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The reef is already quite profitable from a tourism perspective, and likely also the perspective of protection against coastal erosion. Make no mistake, climate change will be *very expensive*. But politics is typically concerned with *now* rather than 10-100 years in the future, and concerned with the local economy much more than poor nations who will suffer the greatest losses.

  33. Very worrying by jandersen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Besides their beauty, reefs shelter land from storms, and are also a habitat for myriads of species.

    Coral reefs are not just beautiful, though; they constitute only perhaps a few % of the oceans' environment, but they support something like 25% or more of all life in the sea, so we really do need to protect them.

    1. Re:Very worrying by richardkettle4 · · Score: 1

      I am not disagreeing here, but I think it points to a more obvious point. Coral reefs support 25% or more of all sea life; it does not follow that loss of this support means the loss of 25% of all sea life and, therefore, 'we really do need to protect them'. Rather, it should tell us that climate change is not 50 or 100 years away, it is happening now and we need to worry about all of the problems it will cause. I suppose I am trying to say: do not focus on this or that loss, because the impact now is so huge that we need to address and focus on the cause, not the symptoms.

  34. Re:Calling bullshit by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

    I'll trust the scientists in the article before trusting a random loser on slashdot like you.

    He's not a random loser! He's a reasonably predictable and orderly loser. Facts still matter, sir, even in Trumplandia.

  35. There is no problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Australian Liberal Party says there is not problem with the Great Barrier Reef. Therefor there isn't.
    Carry on.

  36. save the bight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, since it's ruined anyway. Better to leave the bight alone and let them drill in the gbr instead.

  37. Re:bah humbug global warming by gtall · · Score: 1

    Yes, because all seas everywhere rise by the same temperature. Science. Learn some.

  38. Re:Calling bullshit by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

    people thought we were slipping into another Ice Age

    Spot the idiot!

    The whole global cooling has been hashed over ad nauseam here and many other places. If you're still banging that drum, the only reason can be willful, mindful ignorance. That basically means you're an idiot.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  39. Re:damn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    South Park: masterful propaganda. Best I have ever seen. Not one bit funny.

  40. Facts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Coral thrive in warm water. Global warming should be a boon.

  41. Re:Calling bullshit by dywolf · · Score: 1

    I'm totally sick of the hyperbolic propaganda. Stop lying.

    then why do you keep posting it?

    --
    The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
  42. Spoken like a young person... by zerofoo · · Score: 1

    Let's see how much career changing bravado you have after taking on a mortgage and a couple of kids.

    Getting career advice from a bean-bag sitting, overpriced latte-sipping millennial is like getting sex advice from the Vatican.

  43. Right - it's all the American's fault by zerofoo · · Score: 1

    Asia's enormous and growing carbon footprint has nothing at all to do with it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/en...

  44. Re:It's dead Jim by Maritz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You don't have to be liberal to accept the science of climate change. You just don't have to be a pathetic intellectual coward who won't face reality.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  45. Cost of energy [Re:unlikely] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 2

    When your electricity rate goes from 0.07 to 0.18kWh in less then 10 years, and people have problems keeping the lights on? \

    The cost of energy in constant dollars has been going down, not up.
    Here's a graph of energy costs. Electrical costs have dropped from about $0.026/kWh (equal to $0.21/kWh in today's dollars) in 1960 to $12.67/kWh today.
    http://www.eia.gov/outlooks/st...

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Cost of energy [Re:unlikely] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now imagine what it's like in other countries that don't have the cheap energy like the US does.

    2. Re:Cost of energy [Re:unlikely] by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      The cost of energy in constant dollars has been going down, not up.

      Bzzt. http://www.ontario-hydro.com/c...

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  46. Dollar not depressed [Re:unlikely] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Now let's subtract 30% of that due to the dollar being depressed against every other western country.

    I'm not sure what you're talking about. The dollar was 1 Euro in 2000; it's 0.94 Euro today. https://www.google.com/finance... The dollar was106 Japanese yen in 2000; it's 113 yen today. https://www.google.com/finance... And the dollar has actually risen against the pound: https://www.google.com/finance...

    I don't see how that can be described as as being "depressed".

    ...You apparently have no idea how small houses are here.

    Since in an earlier post you said "Good thing I'm not American", I have no idea where "here" is.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Dollar not depressed [Re:unlikely] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well aren't you the poster child for a thorough reader!

      "Good thing I'm not American [...] Greater Toronto Area"

      Little country called Canada. Heard of it?

    2. Re:Dollar not depressed [Re:unlikely] by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure what you're talking about.

      Apparently you don't. Because in Canada, 1CAD=0.72USD, and 1CAD=0.69EUR, 1CAD=0.59GBP You figure out that 30% depression works in yet?

      Since in an earlier post you said "Good thing I'm not American", I have no idea where "here" is.

      Can't read either, follow the thread chain next time.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  47. USA Today reports on coral climate cycles ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's like a Bantu-babe ghetto babymoma reporting on birth-control methods. "How much is the next one worth ...?"

  48. Re:Calling bullshit by moeinvt · · Score: 0

    "The whole global cooling has been hashed over ad nauseam here and many other places..."

    Perhaps it has, but that doesn't change the fact that people were, at one time, promoting that theory. Just because you've discussed it, doesn't mean that it never happened. If you have access to a university library, you can go peruse old periodicals from the '70s and '80s and find articles about how the earth could be moving toward a new ice age. Try "Omni". I think that's where I read about it.

    "If you're still banging that drum, the only reason can be willful, mindful ignorance"

    Why is it "ignorance"? Just because you want to ignore it? The fact that "global cooling" has changed to "global warming" in 30-40 years (the blink of an eye on a geological time scale) demonstrates that the authors and scientists who were studying the issue back then were not infallible. Or maybe they were right, and the current scientists are wrong?

  49. Is there any intelligence left on /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    20 years ago, when I first started reading /., the discussions following a post were relevant and literate, and free, for the most part, of politics.

    This discussion is typical of how much /. has deteriorated: the vast majority of the initial posts have nothing to do with the original post but instead consist of snarky political comments on Trump.

    Come on, mods, do your job and remove the incessant whining by those whose candidate did not win the last election, and keep the postings on topic!

    Otherwise, what was once a great place to come for intellectual discussion will be utterly irrelevant and a complete waste of time as a source of any useful information.

  50. GMO coral by iamacat · · Score: 1

    The planet is not coming back to old normal and we got to do what we have to do to mitigate the effects right?

    1. Re:GMO coral by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      Or in the case of the peppered moth which seemed to evolve in response to pollution, perhaps the massive coral die-off will reveal strains that tolerate the warmer temperatures. We could help the reefs recover by reseeding them with lab grown coral larvae grown from these strains.

  51. Where does Fukashima fit into this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where does Fukashima fit into all of this? Is it nearby? Are there currents delivering radiation to the reef?

  52. Re:Calling bullshit by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

    Perhaps it has, but that doesn't change the fact that people were, at one time, promoting that theory.

    So? You can find "people" pushing any theory. There ar still people pushing the flat earth theory. That doesn't mean it has any credibility.

    The fact that "global cooling" has changed to "global warming" in 30-40 years (the blink of an eye on a geological time scale) demonstrates that the authors and scientists who were studying the issue back then were not infallible.

    What are you talking about. Global cooling was a niche theory not widely accepted by the scientific community that caused a brief flurry of excitement in the popular press. It would have vanished except that people intent on misunderstanding it kep bringing it up.

    And yes, I think you have the intent. The information is out there in a wide variety of sources, e.g. wikipedia. You can educate yourself or you can make bizarre claims like the cooling changed to warming.

    Get it straight: thre was no cooling.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  53. How science is done. by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Actually, it does. This is something non-scientists really really don't understand, because they're all familiar with all the hero scientist stories and not so much with the actual process of science. I love the hero scientist stories, too, but the final, and the most important part of science is that you have to explain your results to other scientists, and get them to understand it and understand and credit the evidence.

    Wrong.

    The only thing that matters is being able to reproduce the proof independently. If the results proving a theory are unable to be duplicated independently it's nothing more than an unproven hypothesis.

    Exactly. That is how you get scientific consensus, when other scientists can duplicate your reasoning and follow your results, and compare your results to results from others (often, from others in different fields).

    This is what we call scientific consensus.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:How science is done. by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      Exactly. That is how you get scientific consensus, when other scientists can duplicate your reasoning and follow your results, and compare your results to results from others (often, from others in different fields).

      This is what we call scientific consensus.

      That's the problem here. There's no actual *independent* review and verification.

      In the case of AGW that's only happened among a small subset of "climate scientists" who are only accepted as being respectable "climate scientists" if they already agree manbearpig is trashing the climate, and it's only a matter of in how many ways and how badly. If any others attempt to refute any of their hypothesis they are dismissed as being "unqualified to offer an opinion" or simply painted as nutcases.

      There's no intellectual honesty or actual scientific method being rigorously applied overall. That's why regular people don't believe what's being peddled here. They may not have a string of letters after their names but they know a snow-job when it's being shoved down their throats. Particularly when the "solutions" being screamed for all enrich the already rich and powerful.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    2. Re:How science is done. by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

      You don't have the slightest notion of climate science when you say you think that it's 'only a small subset of "climate scientists' that have done the works underlying the science of global warming, or that there isn't independent review and verification.

      Really.

      Please, think about maybe learning something from a real science source. I don't know where you're getting your lack of information from, but it's certainly not from real science sources.

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    3. Re:How science is done. by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      You don't have the slightest notion of climate science when you say you think that it's 'only a small subset of "climate scientists' that have done the works underlying the science of global warming, or that there isn't independent review and verification.

      Really.

      Please, think about maybe learning something from a real science source. I don't know where you're getting your lack of information from, but it's certainly not from real science sources.

      And thus you prove my point in your reply.

      Is that fact completely lost on you?

      Maybe you should re-read my post and your reply and think about it. It says more about you than I.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    4. Re:How science is done. by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

      Since you don't seem to know anything about climate science, it doesn't do much good to reread your reply.
      The greenhouse effect, of course, has been known for well over a century, but the modern global climate model incorporating numerical integration was Manabe and Wetherald, 1967. But, of course, since you dismiss all climate scientists, you dismiss that, I suppose, along with all the other work ever done. In fact, you can dismiss every paper! They're all done by " 'only a small subset of "climate scientists'". Thousands of them! Decades of Journal of Geophysical Research- Atmospheres: every single paper written by that 'small subset.' That "small subset" is so incredibly prolific-- they're simply amazing, that small subset; not only have they written every single paper on climate science for almost fifty years, they've taken over the whole of atmospheric science in America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Australia.

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    5. Re:How science is done. by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      I'll leave this here.

      https://youtu.be/QwviDPo4Rh4

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  54. Not alone by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Corals can relate to DC Democrats.

  55. Re:bah humbug global warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Coral reefs can adapt to temperature change, but not quickly. The temperature is rising quicker than they can adapt to it.

  56. Summary contains misinformation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The "bleaching" phenomena was first identified in the 1970's, well before 1980. The major causes of coral death in the area are: chemical runoff from pesticides, muddy water from boat traffic and other runoff, coal mining in the area, and storms. All of those things contribute to increase in temperatures and are not specifically "global warming". Here's an article from a few years ago with more information: https://www.theguardian.com/en...

  57. Fukushima? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am no expert on this but I wonder what impact the Fukushima disaster had on the reef? Could any of this acceleration be due to the radioactivity in the water and subsequently in food sources in the ocean?

  58. Evolution will win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those weak little polyps that can't survive just need to die off. Only the ones who can take more extreme temperatures deserve to survive.
     
    Stop cuddling the little polyps.

  59. Re:It's dead Jim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, climate does change. So does our orbit. Which means what exactly?

    You want to blame something or someone. Ok, that's standard. People want someone or something to blame.

    Taking politics out of the equation, which I know for many /.'ers removes the target as well, but lets try.

    When man (sorry, generic term here, no sexual offense intended) began to better science 200+ years ago, that also included medical science. So populations bloomed. To keep up with demand of modern living, manufacturing must keep up because people want their /.!! Meanwhile, I'm an elected rep of an area that lost manufacturing to another location because of tax benefits or lax environmental requirements. So to compete, I offer more tax benefits and lower lax environmental requirements to get my folks back to work and me re-elected. And the cycle continues.

    People want stuff and money. It's not greed, it's an easier way to live and provides true freedom.

  60. Re: bah humbug global warming by rahvin112 · · Score: 1

    Coral cannot survive in water above a certain temperature threshold. If water temperatures sustain the coral may never recover. If the northern reaches of the BGR (those that are the closest to the equator) end up with unsurvivable water temperatures the coral in those areas will die off permanently.

  61. Re:It's dead Jim by Rakarra · · Score: 2

    Maybe the Marxists are right, and you're wrong. Doesn't have anything to do with Marxism really, because there are three separate and unrelated questions at work here:
    1) Is the global climate warming?
    2) Is this due to human activity?
    3) What steps should we take in response?

    Clearly you don't like the answers to #3, but questions #1 and #2 are not dependent on #3.

  62. Corals in the Arctic by argee · · Score: 1

    So, to believe the post, if the coral is dying off because the water is getting too warm, it stands
    to reason that coral will start flourishing in areas that formerly had cold waters, but now the
    water is warming up enough to support coral growth.

  63. Re:bah humbug global warming by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 0

    The world was in a cooling trend before the industrial revolution. There is no other plausible reason for it to change right now except for us.

    --
    a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y (at be if of up cwm by)
  64. It's telling that the Republicans answer by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Is to do something (pull yourself up by your bootstraps) that is literally impossible.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  65. Re:Calling bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Models are not evidence. Big grown up person!

  66. Re:Obvious Fake News by msmonroe · · Score: 0

    This is a perfect example of how fake news gets promoted as reality. I believe Donald Trump will be able to limit how this type of news gets spread, his path has been chosen by GOD and blessed by Jesus Christ!

    Ha, I was testing Poe's law.
    Poe's law is an Internet adage that states that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers or viewers as a sincere expression of the parodied views.

  67. Re:Obvious Fake News by msmonroe · · Score: 0

    This is a perfect example of how fake news gets promoted as reality. I believe Donald Trump will be able to limit how this type of news gets spread, his path has been chosen by GOD and blessed by Jesus Christ!

    Ha, I was testing Poe's law. Poe's law is an Internet adage that states that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers or viewers as a sincere expression of the parodied views.

    Just to be clear I think Trump is the Anti-Christ and I believe this story about the reef is real. I was just testing Poe's law.

  68. Re: bah humbug global warming by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

    We all die permanently, even species, though cockroaches have had a pretty good run.

    There are deep water corals, and some of the shallow water corals on the GBR will migrate south to cooler waters as the climate changes, life will go on.

    But, yeah, it's going to suck bigtime for a dozen to a hundred human generations if we don't get our shit together pronto.

  69. Up and down [Re:Dollar not depressed] by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure what you're talking about.

    Apparently you don't. Because in Canada, 1CAD=0.72USD, and 1CAD=0.69EUR, 1CAD=0.59GBP You figure out that 30% depression works in yet?

    Up and down. The Canadian dollar was $(US) 0.69 in 2000, it's $(US) 0.744 now-- no long term difference.

    30% down if you pick the right points.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Up and down [Re:Dollar not depressed] by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      no long term difference.

      Apparently you don't know anything about the economics of Canada either, and why having a low dollar now has a larger impact on everything here. Especially since that low dollar was used directly as a incentive to "cheaper made" goods. Something that Canada has lost as the manufacturing industry has effectively packed up and left. Low dollar values do not translate well to service based economies, if you need a longer explanation look at Greece.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  70. Re:Calling bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When the physical evidence however matches what is predicted based on the model, that is the evidence - literally.

  71. That was informative, thanks by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the info.

  72. How to learn about science by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    Good, that answers my question.

    I wrote:

    I don't know where you're getting your lack of information from, but it's certainly not from real science sources.

    and the answer is, you get your information about science from youtube videos.

    OK, got it.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:How to learn about science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The deflection shields are at maximum, Captain! She cahn't take neh'more!"

      LOL!