Rip Great Barrier Reef

[Nova]

Well it looks like the Great Barrier reef is near death.

Its sad to see that such awesome reef dies because the Sea gets warmer.

So there is a huge chance that all corals die but there is also chance that mother Nature forms a new kind of corals that adapt to the heat.

You can state your thoughts here.

 

[DrGravitas]

I wouldn't characterize it as near death. Although warming waters are a threat, among many others, to the reef.

It's not completely hopeless, though! I mean, at least the US isn't dropping bombs on it :Y

O-oh. Ohhhhh...

 

[kazooie]

we're gonna see quite a few ecosystems go down the drain over the next 50 years! 

in places like Florida, they'll literally go down the drain, straight into the ocean! 

we live in exciting times

[MuttButt]

4 hours ago, DrGravitas said:

I wouldn't characterize it as near death.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/futurism.com/scientists-announce-that-the-great-barrier-reef-is-officially-terminal/amp/

[DrGravitas]

22 minutes ago, MuttButt said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/futurism.com/scientists-announce-that-the-great-barrier-reef-is-officially-terminal/amp/

Well that's interesting! Usually phys.org has this sort of news. Maybe I missed it. Thanks for the link!

[MuttButt]

15 minutes ago, DrGravitas said:

Well that's interesting! Usually phys.org has this sort of news. Maybe I missed it. Thanks for the link!

no problemo compadre :3

[Vallium]

Good thing I visited there before it died

5 hours ago, kazooie said:

we're gonna see quite a few ecosystems go down the drain over the next 50 years! 

in places like Florida, they'll literally go down the drain, straight into the ocean! 

we live in exciting times

Good thing I moved out of there

[kazooie]

24 minutes ago, WolfNightV4X1 said:

Good thing I moved out of there

beautiful waterside house for sale!

at-sea level property makes for easy beach access!

buy now!

[Fossa]

With any luck there won't be any Mar-a-Lago anymore...just a Mar.

[Snagged]

7 hours ago, MuttButt said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/futurism.com/scientists-announce-that-the-great-barrier-reef-is-officially-terminal/amp/

There's always arguments in scientific community whether the the Great Barrier Reef is nearly dead or not and what it's real state is (especially considering how large it is) but it is undeniable that it is not in a very healthy state and that there will ramifications if the reef dies off

[WileyWarWeasel]

While civilization exists it will eat away at the rest of the ecosystem like a cancer.

At least we're digging up lots of carbon and dissipating it so that it can (eventually) be used for carbon-based life, even if it is at great cost.

[Tsuujou]

imma go fix it brb

[WileyWarWeasel]

45 minutes ago, Tsuujou said:

imma go fix it brb

 

[Revates]

Well I guess when it dies Adani will be able to do whatever it wants, WIN FOR ADANI, loss for tourism and everyone else.

It's a shame that we'll be losing such a national treasure at this rate... :c

[kazooie]

10 hours ago, Revates said:

Well I guess when it dies Adani will be able to do whatever it wants, WIN FOR ADANI, loss for tourism and everyone else.

It's a shame that we'll be losing such a national treasure at this rate... :c

*politician shakes head* "There was nothing we could do..."

*camera pans to mass of scientists, some red-in-face from screaming @ politician for the past 37 years, others drinking heavily*

[Guest]

Honestly I'm just waiting for the lot of em to die out at this point, give or take 10 years. Actual intelligent, science backed policy has been pushed back for years. Current Events have a lot of young people and educated people pissed and fighting for the environment, civil rights, etc so I guess we, in addition to constantly being informed and trying to inform others (without getting crazy with it, cuz I sure did when I was 18), we weather the crazy global warming fueled storms as best as we can.  

[kazooie]

39 minutes ago, Lemon said:

Honestly I'm just waiting for the lot of em to die out at this point, give or take 10 years. Actual intelligent, science backed policy has been pushed back for years. Current Events have a lot of young people and educated people pissed and fighting for the environment, civil rights, etc so I guess we, in addition to constantly being informed and trying to inform others (without getting crazy with it, cuz I sure did when I was 18), we weather the crazy global warming fueled storms as best as we can.  

I've lost a whoooole lotta faith in humanity and politics as of recent, but yeah, we're gonna just have to do the best we can adapting to the changes, at this point, and helping those who inevitably get screwed. If people think the refugees now are bad, oohh baby, just you wait 'till tens-to-hundreds of millions of people begin gettin' displaced by rising water levels and desertification. We live in exciting times.

[WileyWarWeasel]

9 hours ago, kazooie said:

*politician shakes head* "There was nothing we could do..."

*camera pans to mass of scientists, some red-in-face from screaming @ politician for the past 37 years, others drinking heavily*

Our dilemma is that the very nature of civilization is unsustainable and harmful to most organisms on this planet, yet people want civilization and environmentalism.

I'm sorry but you can't have both. That doesn't stop scammers from selling "environmentally friendly" snake oil to consumers to make them feel better.

 

If it's any consolation this dilemma will eventually resolve itself, though not quite as most would envision.

[kazooie]

2 hours ago, WileyWarWeasel said:

Our dilemma is that the very nature of civilization is unsustainable and harmful to most organisms on this planet, yet people want civilization and environmentalism.

I'm sorry but you can't have both. That doesn't stop scammers from selling "environmentally friendly" snake oil to consumers to make them feel better.

 

If it's any consolation this dilemma will eventually resolve itself, though not quite as most would envision.

well, I mean, in terms of tackling climate change, the science and policy has been there for quite a while now - our societies are certainly ludicrously wealthy enough to make the sacrifices necessary, it's mostly just a matter of political will (and therein lies the rub). i guess some would argue that reducing carbon emissions would cripple our economies past some critical point, but from what i've gathered it greatly reduced emissions are theoretically attainable.

[WileyWarWeasel]

2 hours ago, kazooie said:

well, I mean, in terms of tackling climate change, the science and policy has been there for quite a while now - our societies are certainly ludicrously wealthy enough to make the sacrifices necessary, it's mostly just a matter of political will (and therein lies the rub). i guess some would argue that reducing carbon emissions would cripple our economies past some critical point, but from what i've gathered it greatly reduced emissions are theoretically attainable.

The world economy overall has to keep growing to offset the effects of diminishing returns (getting less resource surplus compared to resources invested) and increasing systemic costs (pollution, debt, complexity, maintenance, etc). The system doesn't work well in contraction as economies of scale are lost, debt is not repaid overall, and the networked nature of our economy ensures that one element failing or contracting (eg a businesses laying off people) will invariably impact other elements (eg those laid off people spending less on other businesses and government taking less taxes) that will create self-reinforcing loops (less spending means less business revenue - more layoffs).

Transitioning from one form of energy (fossil fuels) that is rapidly becoming uneconomical to a less viable form (such as "renewables") isn't the answer either. Our economy runs on energy and material surpluses.

There's also the fact that "renewables" aren't made from renewable materials and neither is the infrastructure and everything else required to make them work. Also fossil fuels are required for their material properties, not just energy (eg fertilizers, lubricants, plastics, steel, pharmaceuticals, bitumen, etc).

Regardless of how "ludicrously wealthy" some societies may appear (and world merchandise trade, world GDP, new shipping orders by CGT, durable & capital goods orders and other statistics show otherwise) they cannot afford to go backwards without creating a deflationary death spiral.

 

I recall Rassah once saying that such a scenario isn't possible because businesses will always target the current markets. The latter part of their statement is correct, however if the current market/s are shrinking (eg due to wages decreasing relative to inflation, layoffs, etc) then businesses will target the shrinking markets by shrinking themselves. A race to the bottom as it were.

 

We are also likely too late to make any significant difference at this time due to the amount of time that greenhouse gasses linger in the atmosphere as well as various feedback loops that appear to have been set in motion (eg disappearing arctic ice exposing darker water thus trapping more heat). Nobody talks about the global dimming effect yet this is also an important counterweight to the global warming effect. The machinery/power plants/etc that release pollutants influencing global warming also release pollutants that cause global dimming. The pollutants that cause global dimming linger for only a few weeks while carbon dioxide lingers for several decades before most of it is absorbed by the oceans (leading to oceanic acidification). The much more potent greenhouse gas methane stays in the atmosphere for about 12 years.

Even if the world economy stopped tomorrow the earth would continue to warm (and at a much faster rate due to the lack of pollutants causing global dimming) for at least several decades afterwards, just from the greenhouse gasses alone.

 

Fortunately there are some organisms that are incredibly resilient (mostly microorganisms such as tardigrades, cyanobacteria among other bacteria and other extremophiles) that should be able to weather the worst ecological effects that are yet to come even if we lay nuclear war on top of everything else.

What's more, there are certain categories of organisms that could actually thrive in such an environment. For example capnophiles thrive in a carbon-dioxide rich environment and radiotrophic fungi feeds off of radiation.

It's a bit ironic that a world economy that evolved to suit a minority of humans would in itself end up suiting a minority of organisms (likely not humans) ^___^

[Toshabi]

poop

[Hewge]

These kinds of news tend to be exaggerative and baity. Because every news website wants views, and what better way than to say a natural world wonder is dead?

Pretty much all of them are nothing that hasn't been known for decades. They only talk about the bads, and as if nobody cares. As if everyone is just going to sit down and watch as the Great Barrier Reef dies.

In reality - millions upon millions of dollars are invested. Along with, hundreds, if not thousands of people working every day to preserve and protect as much as the reef as we can.
Australians and the world love the reef, so obviously we're not going to let it die on us. There's even a recent 35 year plan by the Australian government dedicated specifically to this cause.
The reef would have probably already been gone many years ago, but here it still is. Because people work to protect it.

There's worlds more information on how we can and are preserving the reef, but I'm by no means some kind of life-time-invested marine biologist.
I just thought I'd post something more enlightening and positive than "Boohoo the GBR is dead".
Really, The Great Barrier Reef won't be going away any time soon. I believe it will be around for as long as we, as a species, keep working to preserve our world. Or at least right our wrongs as human beings.

[WileyWarWeasel]

7 hours ago, Hewge said:

Really, The Great Barrier Reef won't be going away any time soon. I believe it will be around for as long as we, as a species, keep working to preserve our world.

 

 

What a great job we've done ^__^