Chasing coral

[Charterreefer]

I love the reefs, I love fish and all of the living creatures that exist within them, but to suggest "All because of the decisions that humanity is making on a day to day basis"...I just don't understand that mentality. What is the Earth, 4 billion years old...and we've been keeping records for what? A couple hundred years?

Is it sad, of course, but to suggest that people are responsible for ANY change (warming or cooling...they've been blamed for both), when change has been occuring for billions of years, just seems like a giant leep to me.

How do you feel about acid rain?

 

[Zero Nitrates]

This is a great documentary! No matter what the cause of these bleaching events, it is very serious. Who knows what will happen to the ocean with no reefs.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I love the reefs, I love fish and all of the living creatures that exist within them, but to suggest "All because of the decisions that humanity is making on a day to day basis"...I just don't understand that mentality. What is the Earth, 4 billion years old...and we've been keeping records for what? A couple hundred years?

Is it sad, of course, but to suggest that people are responsible for ANY change (warming or cooling...they've been blamed for both), when change has been occuring for billions of years, just seems like a giant leep to me.

You should watch the show again.
We can track carbon in the Skeltons of corals and gossiped plants going back millions of years.

Its how we discoverd the reasons why dinosaurs disappeared. And the cause of the Permian mass extinction. The Permian btw was also green house gas fueled.(volcanos in what is now Russia ) But I suppose we could question all that science too.

Fun fact. The Permian extinctions loss of life event was not due to temperature and inability to adapt. The huge reserves of frozen methane under the seas was suddenly released and that's what killed over 90% of life on the planet.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Very sad! Most disturbing is that talk radio hosts and politicians have more credibility with much of the population when it comes to climate science etc. than a huge majority of actual scientists that have dedicated their lives to research. I'm sure this documentary is currently being classified as fake news as we speak.

 

[Ryan Hunter]

One part of the whole bleaching story I don't understand is how 0.4C temp swings over 100 years cause massive bleaching events on the GBR. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that as I sit in front of my healthy tank that is currently running 3 degrees C hotter then it does in the winter. Obviously my tank is not the same as the ocean but I'm confused.

 

[revhtree]

So far so good on the discussion. Let's try to keep it free from politics. Thanks everyone.

 

[Gil03]

Something I just couldn't wrap my head around after watching the doc was the stat that 26% of the GBR was lost in just "1" year I believe it was (That being 2016) if I'm not mistaken. Truly Terrible...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I think it's worth noting, it was also the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico as well.

Our own back yard.

 

[Charterreefer]

You should watch the show again.
We can track carbon in the Skeltons of corals and gossiped plants going back millions of years.

Its how we discoverd the reasons why dinosaurs disappeared. And the cause of the Permian mass extinction. The Permian btw was also green house gas fueled.(volcanos in what is now Russia ) But I suppose we could question all that science too.

Fun fact. The Permian extinctions loss of life event was not due to temperature and inability to adapt. The huge reserves of frozen methane under the seas was suddenly released and that's what killed over 90% of life on the planet.

That last fun fact smacks of whats going on with the permafrost in the north.

 

[Gil03]

I love the reefs, I love fish and all of the living creatures that exist within them, but to suggest "All because of the decisions that humanity is making on a day to day basis"...I just don't understand that mentality. What is the Earth, 4 billion years old...and we've been keeping records for what? A couple hundred years?

Is it sad, of course, but to suggest that people are responsible for ANY change (warming or cooling...they've been blamed for both), when change has been occuring for billions of years, just seems like a giant leep to me.

You mean to tell me that with all the factories/oil/trash/nuclear waste/vehicle emissions etc; you can't be bothered by the suggestion of the role we play in the warming of this planet?? Sure there have been countless Natural occurring events that have happened since the inception of this planet but we're not talking about natural occurring events, we're talking about the effects that are directly related to the above mentioned that are all Human originated.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

One part of the whole bleaching story I don't understand is how 0.4C temp swings over 100 years cause massive bleaching events on the GBR. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that as I sit in front of my healthy tank that is currently running 3 degrees C hotter then it does in the winter. Obviously my tank is not the same as the ocean but I'm confused.

Fast forward to about 54:50 in the documentary, the water temperature was reported to be around 95*F (35*C). A small increase when waters are that hot already pushes the coral into the bleaching zone. It's not an increase of 78*F to 78.6F that's the problem, it's that the water is already in the 90*F range that's the problem.

 

[Charterreefer]

You mean to tell me that with all the factories/oil/trash/nuclear waste/vehicle emissions etc; you can't be bothered by the suggestion of the role we play in the warming of this planet?? Sure there have been countless Natural occurring events that have happened since the inception of this planet but we're not talking about natural occurring events, we're talking about the effects that are directly related to the above mentioned that are all Human originated.[/QUOTE
The earth is 4 billion years old. Industrial man has only been here 120 years! We're not off to a very good start. Geologically speaking we are devastating given what we have done to our planet in such a short time. Look at all the damage that has occurred because of us!

 

[Angel125]

The earth must have been a very clean place before we came around. We have definitely made a huge dent on the earth. Look at all the garbage we dump on a daily basis.

 

[Ranjib]

I think it's worth noting, it was also the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico as well.

Our own back yard.

Bay of Bengal is in the worst state , among the endangered ones

 

[Zero Nitrates]

I dove in Hawaii last year. There is massive bleaching in the reefs there. It's really eye opening.
I didn't know until that trip that sunscreen contributes to reef bleaching. It makes sense, but I had never thought about it.

 

[Andrewalex11]

Unfortunately at the end of the day though if everything works out so perfectly that every human being recycles and drives LEV cars the Earth will do what it wants.

 

[Llobrao]

Our individual carbon footprint has been drastically raising since the 80s we all play a big role in this, when people hear global warming they immediately think big factories burning natural resources when it is not the case, as a species we are definitely contributing to this cause in ways we can't imagine just think about what you eat daily and how does it get to your plate at home! Times the worlds population whicn is only grown almost at an exponential ratio think about your consumption times 7 billion.... IT HAS TO MAKE AN IMPACT!

 

[DH-Reef]

You mean to tell me that with all the factories/oil/trash/nuclear waste/vehicle emissions etc; you can't be bothered by the suggestion of the role we play in the warming of this planet?? Sure there have been countless Natural occurring events that have happened since the inception of this planet but we're not talking about natural occurring events, we're talking about the effects that are directly related to the above mentioned that are all Human originated.

Right, because saying that I don't agree with it or buy in to it, suggests that "I can't be bothered by it". What are the alternatives, especially here on a reef forum? No power, which we all rely on now, to the point of getting genterators, powered by gas.

It's just the not stop, "look what we have done!", when 1) we don't even know that "we" have done it and 2) what is the alternative? Candles, horses? We certainly wouldn't be keeping reefs or having our reef inhibitants shipped to us under those conditions. It's like a giant carbon off-set conversation..."Look how devasting, what we have done...but first, check out my 240g reef tank and 100g sump, with 400wx6 MH lighting and (3) 200w closed loop and return pumps, oh and the 1000w heaters and sump lighting."

 

[Gil03]

Right, because saying that I don't agree with it or buy in to it, suggests that "I can't be bothered by it". What are the alternatives, especially here on a reef forum? No power, which we all rely on now, to the point of getting genterators, powered by gas.

It's just the not stop, "look what we have done!", when 1) we don't even know that "we" have done it and 2) what is the alternative? Candles, horses? We certainly wouldn't be keeping reefs or having our reef inhibitants shipped to us under those conditions. It's like a giant carbon off-set conversation..."Look how devasting, what we have done...but first, check out my 240g reef tank and 100g sump, with 400wx6 MH lighting and (3) 200w closed loop and return pumps, oh and the 1000w heaters and sump lighting."

I believe you said it's a "Giant Leap" if i'm not mistaken to assert that humans have had a role in the warming of this planet, now I won't get into how you came to that ideology but I will say that it's not up for debate anymore whether or not we as a species are contributing to the problem but rather how much longer does this planet have under the increasing destruction put forth on our part. I'm sorry but I don't throw in with the notion that Global Warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese, I'll leave that craziness to Trump lol. However, since you brought up alternatives...that's exactly where everyone's thought process should be, The Alternatives. The "Is it real?" or the "Are we actually a problem?" questions simply just bog down the pursuit of solutions IMO.

 

[erk]

I think it is very important to ask the question of the size of our footprint and how much we are contributing as a whole. Are we really contributing as much as we think or is there something else we haven't taken into consideration yet. It is when we assume that we make mistakes that can have far greater repercussions. That shouldn't stop us mitigating our known impacts on the environment and developing cleaner, more efficient technology, not just for the environment, but for ourselves as well.