While Corals Die Along The Great Barrier Reef, Humans Struggle To Adjust

[BuffaloHops]

[U][B]While Corals Die Along The Great Barrier Reef, Humans Struggle To Adjust[/B][/U]

[url]http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/07/09/535754962/while-corals-die-along-the-great-barrier-reef-humans-struggle-to-adjust[/url]

[QUOTE]
For the past two years, Hughes has led a team of scientists in both aerial and underwater surveys of the reef. It took a while - the Great Barrier Reef is made up of more than 3,000 individual reefs stretching as long as the entire West Coast of the United States. Their findings, published in March in the journal Nature, estimate that a third of the coral died along the entire Great Barrier Reef between March and November 2016, due to warmer-than-average water temperatures.

[B]"Close to half of the corals on the Great Barrier Reef have died in a period of about 18 months," Hughes says. "This is the new normal."[/B]

Hughes is calling on everyone who studies and protects the world's coral reefs to adjust to this new normal. He says coral reef management has always focused on restoring reefs to their pristine condition - before the oceans began to warm.

"And we argue that's no longer possible," says Hughes. "What we should be aiming for is keeping the reefs functional, recognizing that the world is on a conveyor belt. We are going to a new type of coral reef ecosystem, but if we're careful how we do that, we will have a functioning ecosystem that will provide benefits to people."

He doesn't have any specific answers as to how to make that happen, but he's calling on reef managers around the world to come up with plans.

Not everyone at the Coral Reef Center shares Hughes' optimism. Research fellow Jon Brodie used to direct water quality for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. [B]He believes it's too late to save the coral. Water temperatures are rising too fast, he says, and he predicts that in 30 years, most of it will be gone.[/B]
[/QUOTE]

[millan]

We fucked up good didn't we

[T553412]

[QUOTE=millan;52454137]We fucked up good didn't we[/QUOTE]

And there's a small and select group of people who will continue to fuck things up, and plenty of idiots who will continue to root for them as the world falls apart

[Archival]

I still remember some politician here flat out saying "While it is regrettable about the loss of the great barrier reef..." and then following into why we need a new coal port in NSW to help the economy.

:suicide:

[Garry #2]

honestly I am not too worried about the Earth in the long run tbh

if we do eventually kill ourselves or debilitate ourselves to the point where we no longer have the technological means to destroy the environment, i would imagine that some day the Earth would stabilize and the reefs would reappear

life finds a way in so many situations

[Gufu]

[QUOTE=Garry #2;52454989]honestly I am not too worried about the Earth in the long run tbh

if we do eventually kill ourselves or debilitate ourselves to the point where we no longer have the technological means to destroy the environment, i would imagine that some day the Earth would stabilize and the reefs would reappear

life finds a way in so many situations[/QUOTE]

Or maybe the environment becomes that of Venus and everything would die.

[OvB]

[QUOTE=Garry #2;52454989]honestly I am not too worried about the Earth in the long run tbh

if we do eventually kill ourselves or debilitate ourselves to the point where we no longer have the technological means to destroy the environment, i would imagine that some day the Earth would stabilize and the reefs would reappear

life finds a way in so many situations[/QUOTE]

I mean yeah, they'll come back. Earth has been through worse. But that's beside the point. It's not about saving the planet. It's about saving the human species. We cannot do that without the ocean. We will be doomed when we lose the ocean.

[spectator1]

I'm still wondering why we were all born at this time, I would have accepted the olden days just fine. Its rather strange to me, I'm being existential again aren't I? Whatever I'll go back to my memes.

[T553412]

[QUOTE=spectator1;52455097]I'm still wondering why we were all born at this time, I would have accepted the olden days just fine. Its rather strange to me, I'm being existential again aren't I?[/QUOTE]

The olden days were, in many ways, a lot worse than today

Racism, inequality, povery and tyranny still survive, somehow. But we have progressed to the point were these issues can be discussed alongside the preservation and recovery of the environment.

Back in the "olden days", we didn't have environmental guidelines. Or worker safety rules. We put our children to work, and for little to no compensation. And that's just the surface of issues of the "olden days"

[OvB]

[QUOTE=spectator1;52455097]I'm still wondering why we were all born at this time, I would have accepted the olden days just fine. Its rather strange to me, I'm being existential again aren't I? Whatever I'll go back to my memes.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I fucking love dying from preventable disease.

[Kalimando]

[QUOTE=OvB;52455157]Yeah, I fucking love dying from preventable disease.[/QUOTE]

When you put it that way you make it sound like the coral reef loss isn't really all that important.

[kylel999]

[QUOTE=T553412;52455106]The olden days were, in many ways, a lot worse than today

Racism, inequality, povery and tyranny still survive, somehow. But we have progressed to the point were these issues can be discussed alongside the preservation and recovery of the environment.

Back in the "olden days", we didn't have environmental guidelines. Or worker safety rules. We put our children to work, and for little to no compensation. And that's just the surface of issues of the "olden days"[/QUOTE]

Let's not forget that sea-glass in its entirety only exists because we've dumped millions of tons of glass into the oceans

[OvB]

[QUOTE=bigbadbarron;52455273]When you put it that way you make it sound like the coral reef loss isn't really all that important.[/QUOTE]

We live in the greatest time in human history. Every variation of "the good old days" is simply nostalgia. I would probably not be alive if I was born 50 years ago. My mother and siblings would've died during birth if we lived 100 years ago. There is no physically better moment in human history than this very second. Environmental destruction from industrial activity is regrettable, but stopping human development in stasis a few hundred years ago would see us dying from famine either way. We must choose to be responsible with our technology. While also advancing it. Human lives are the cost of of not doing both those things together.

[Unkle Dada]

Might as well not quit smoking so that I'll die earlier and feel as little of the effects of climate change as possible.

[Zenreon]

[QUOTE=OvB;52455066]I mean yeah, they'll come back. Earth has been through worse. But that's beside the point. It's not about saving the planet. It's about saving the human species. We cannot do that without the ocean. We will be doomed when we lose the ocean.[/QUOTE]

Even if we screw the pooch hard I doubt we will go extinct unless literally every viable couple dies out.

[OvB]

[QUOTE=Zenreon117;52455361]Even if we screw the pooch hard I doubt we will go extinct unless literally every viable couple dies out.[/QUOTE]

I doubt humans will go extinct, but life as we know it would be unlikely. I feel like a worst-case scenario would be pretty apocalyptic.

[Judas]

[QUOTE=Garry #2;52454989]honestly I am not too worried about the Earth in the long run tbh

if we do eventually kill ourselves or debilitate ourselves to the point where we no longer have the technological means to destroy the environment, i would imagine that some day the Earth would stabilize and the reefs would reappear

life finds a way in so many situations[/QUOTE]

We are fleas and the planet is gonna shake us off one day soon

[Zyler]

[QUOTE=OvB;52455066]I mean yeah, they'll come back. Earth has been through worse. But that's beside the point. It's not about saving the planet. It's about saving the human species. We cannot do that without the ocean. We will be doomed when we lose the ocean.[/QUOTE]

[video=youtube;7W33HRc1A6c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c[/video]

TL;DW: The planet is going to be fine; we're fucked.

[Araknid]

[QUOTE=spectator1;52455097]I'm still wondering why we were all born at this time, I would have accepted the olden days just fine. Its rather strange to me, I'm being existential again aren't I? Whatever I'll go back to my memes.[/QUOTE]

I bet you also think all modern music is trash and the last good music was in the 80s