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Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

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Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#21

Post by minimalist »

astockwell wrote: post #15
bb123 wrote: post #9

This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is slipping through our fingers. I fear I’ll never get a chance to see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that my children won’t. Is there anything we can do as individuals to help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like any amount of money we could hope to donate isn’t going to make a drop of difference to sea temper…

Vote.

This is a weak, low-effort responce. There is only so much that can be done by governmental mandate. People have become used to unsustainable lifestyles and it takes lifestyle changes at the individual level to shape our broader impact.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#22

Post by deanCommie »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #19
deanCommie wrote: post #10

What do climate change denialists think about stories like this? Do they A) Think it's a complete lie/exaggeraiton, and the Barrier Reef will be fine? B) Think it's happening but not because of human activity (a massive die off across thousands of kilometers is totally natural, dude) C) Agree that it's caused by humans, but that it's too late to do anything about (probably true), but that also it's not worth taking a…

Your comment is most likely being downvoted because it is ideological flamebait, not because people disagree with your opinion. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I can accept that in broader society, climate change is an "ideological" concept.

I cannot accept that it would be inside a well educated circle like hackernews. It should not be any more controversial than flat earth theory or moon landing conspiracies.

So, I think it's reasonable for me to try to understand, anthropologically speaking, the mindset of a modern climate change denialist. My uncharitable and editorialized descript of their perspectives is perfectly justifiable. These people are actively perpetuating information and policy decisions that will cause the deaths of millions in the next century, the displacement of 100s of millions of more, and a reduction in the quality of life of billions.

They are not worthy of my civility. Civility is what is leading to the the status quo where we as a society - both left and right - have just accepted that the great barrier reef will be dead within a decade, and our children's children will only read about coral reefs in textbooks.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#23

Post by prezjordan »

ghastmaster wrote: post #20

I find it hard to believe that ancient creatures that have lived through this many times in history are somehow unable to do it again. The temperature estimates in the article do not eclipse highs in fairly recent history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_periods_and_events_in_... Nor does the rate of change exceed that of what the earth experienced as recently as 8k years before present. https://en.wikipedia.or…

The creatures have, the reef has not.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#24

Post by npunt »

ghastmaster wrote: post #20

I find it hard to believe that ancient creatures that have lived through this many times in history are somehow unable to do it again. The temperature estimates in the article do not eclipse highs in fairly recent history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_periods_and_events_in_... Nor does the rate of change exceed that of what the earth experienced as recently as 8k years before present. https://en.wikipedia.or…

This article implies temperature is the culprit but I was under the impression the problem is more ocean acidification caused by co2, which happens to also cause temperature rise.

While temperatures have fluctuated over the millennia, the last time co2 was this high (400+ppm) was maybe 30 million years ago: https://earth.org/data_visualization/a-brief-history-of-co2/

Another thing to remember is the tendency for us to compress all of history in a very short period of time, so arguments that are about 'oh x species will evolve' are more on the timescale of 1000s-10000s of years at least. Thus what we lose today are likely to never be seen again by us or any of our ancestors who understand our way of life. If enough of these events happen they can compound and lead to ecological collapse which may permanently affect life on earth and earth's ability to sustain life.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#25

Post by PurpleFoxy »

bb123 wrote: post #9

This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is slipping through our fingers. I fear I’ll never get a chance to see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that my children won’t. Is there anything we can do as individuals to help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like any amount of money we could hope to donate isn’t going to make a drop of difference to sea temper…

It’s too late to save the reefs. It isn’t too late the rest of the environment. Maybe the reef dying will be a wake up call for the world. But probably not.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#26

Post by Igelau »

astockwell wrote: post #15
bb123 wrote: post #9

This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is slipping through our fingers. I fear I’ll never get a chance to see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that my children won’t. Is there anything we can do as individuals to help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like any amount of money we could hope to donate isn’t going to make a drop of difference to sea temper…

Vote.

We do. Let me know when it starts working.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#27

Post by Igelau »

globular-toast wrote: post #17
bb123 wrote: post #9

This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is slipping through our fingers. I fear I’ll never get a chance to see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that my children won’t. Is there anything we can do as individuals to help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like any amount of money we could hope to donate isn’t going to make a drop of difference to sea temper…

You've already reproduced so you've already struck your blow and it's too late to take it back now.

If no one reproduced, there wouldn't be any point to conservation, you dummy.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#28

Post by belorn »

ghastmaster wrote: post #20

I find it hard to believe that ancient creatures that have lived through this many times in history are somehow unable to do it again. The temperature estimates in the article do not eclipse highs in fairly recent history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_periods_and_events_in_... Nor does the rate of change exceed that of what the earth experienced as recently as 8k years before present. https://en.wikipedia.or…

It is not the peak temperature that is the problem, but the speed for which the temperature is rising. Adaptation need time, especially for symbiotic relationships. The reason that the coral is dying is because the sharp increase in temperature is mimicking that of an disease, and the incorrect reaction causes the coral to self-die.

It actually a bit similar to how a virus in an pandemic can become deadly to humans because it cause the immune system of the host to go into hyper drive. The virus itself can be rather minor, and the immune system reaction under normal circumstances would be pretty harmless, but an incorrect reaction results in death. Inflammation can be a great tool to combat a virus, but too much inflammation in the lungs can cause acute respiratory distress resulting in death.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#29

Post by PurpleFoxy »

foobiter wrote: post #13
bb123 wrote: post #9

This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is slipping through our fingers. I fear I’ll never get a chance to see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that my children won’t. Is there anything we can do as individuals to help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like any amount of money we could hope to donate isn’t going to make a drop of difference to sea temper…

tigers and pandas have such small natural habitats now that they’re effectively extinct in the wild; i’m not advocating for it, but it seems like nothing outside of large scale ecoterrorism can do anything fast enough to save our charismatic megafauna for anything other than morbid exhibition

Large scale ecoterroism sounds good. Bomb the houses of those burning the forests. More effective than Facebook posts asking them to stop.

Re: Barrier Reef doomed as up to 99% of coral at risk, report finds

#30

Post by lenkite »

foobiter wrote: post #13
bb123 wrote: post #9

This is so incredibly sad, and I feel so helpless that this is slipping through our fingers. I fear I’ll never get a chance to see a coral reef in real life, and it looks almost certain that my children won’t. Is there anything we can do as individuals to help? I tried looking into conservation efforts but it seems like any amount of money we could hope to donate isn’t going to make a drop of difference to sea temper…

tigers and pandas have such small natural habitats now that they’re effectively extinct in the wild; i’m not advocating for it, but it seems like nothing outside of large scale ecoterrorism can do anything fast enough to save our charismatic megafauna for anything other than morbid exhibition

Actually, wild tiger population has doubled (in India) in the last 12 years.

https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/indi...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49148174

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