Scientists project 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs will disappear over the next 20 years

[ScottR]

Goodness. I avoided this thread like the plague and here I am. Just want to say, I’d be happy to chat about reefing with any of you people. As in the corals in our tanks, not the ocean.

 

[CubsFan]

Here we are just sitting here at 12 at night on a fish forum...... (probably not doing any real good for the earth) Back to the topic but nothing to do with c***** c*****

So is the thought that us keeping reefs at home helps or destroys reefs? Or does it have any effect?

I think we have to weigh a lot of things. Basically most consumerism has some kind of negative affect on the environment. Whether its packaging, manufacturing, delivery or disposal. Increasingly better tech that needs less replacement and are more energy efficient moves us in a better direction.

the bigger the tank, I think we can assume that it’s going to use more energy. I’m sure we could create a scenario where that isn’t the case. This larger tank has more room for coral growth that can redistribute frags to hobbyists which encourages us to keep our hands out of the ocean. Maricultured rock and corals also have less of an impact.

mentioned above, if it’s not sharing your own tank with family and friends, it’s the public aquariums that really help educate people and bring their interest into protecting the environment.

my overall opinion is that keeping a reef is a good thing. There’s a cost, but it seems to me that reef keepers are making efforts to have less of an impact and to raise awareness about coral reefs.

 

[Piranhapat]

Goodness. I avoided this thread like the plague and here I am. Just want to say, I’d be happy to chat about reefing with any of you people. As in the corals in our tanks, not the ocean.

I’m a big believer in aquaculture. I know we have to remove coral from ocean to get coral. But as long we replace it like trees. The other question are we doing harm from removing it to our tanks. I would say some people will see it like that cup is it half full or sees it half empty. Just like anything else. We get to greedy and take and take. There’s a problem. But if we need to save them from diseases. That’s a different issue.

 

[Magellan]

 

[Jeeperz]

And they keep finding new reefs, Antarctic ice packs keep growing, some years Arctic ice never goes away, new reefs have been forming around the great barrier, etc....

I'm all for helping the environment. I don't run a/c at all and keep my heat in the low 60's. How many on here ACTUALLY do that? A/C is one of the largest polluters in the US. Banning A/C would have a huge positive impact on emissions. Both in terms of energy and the toxic chemicals/pollutants involved. So called green solar panels are highly toxic to the environment to make and dispose of. Blacktop for roads, nothing but toxic oil products leaching into the ground. Sewers, semi treated water dumped back into rivers/oceans.

The best thing that could happen to the environment, stop having children, or at least more than 1-2.

Rant over.

 

[Ardeus]

My reef tank exists because I realised that there's a good chance things will go south in the the next 10 to 20 years, so I decided to get my dream tank and enjoy it while it's possible.

If nothing worse happens first, arctic ice will disappear during summer months and significant crop losses in the main bread baskets of the world will get hundreds of millions of people on the move. From then on... your guess is as good as mine.

The IPCC states that we will get an ice free arctic every 100 years for a 1.5 degrees Celcius increase... but then there's this chart:



The IPCC bases their predictions on computer models that ignore many factors that operate in the arctic. This chart is IMO the most important chart of the XXI century.

An ice free arctic in September won't have a big impact, but the next few years when the arctic will be free during summer months will be game changers, it will mean a global increase in heating of 0.7 degrees Celsius per square meter.

It's the equivalent of an additional 1 trillion tons of CO2 in the atmosphere. At our current rate of emission of around 40 billion tons per year, it's like we suddenly add 25 years of emissions.

On a personal level, I really wish somehow this was pessimistic and that things won't collapse within a decade or 2, but I can't see how.

What happened with the US crops last year, makes me think we don't even need to wait for an ice free arctic to unravel this sequence of events.

This year the arctic ice had a great recovery in extent, but in volume is still very low.

 

[jsker]

Hello friends. While we want to be able to allow as much debate as possible to continue we feel like some discussions degrade to a point that it is no longer in the best interest of the forum or participants to allow it to continue. That being said we’re going to put this one to rest and we hope you understand. Have a good one.