What is Digg?Sponsored by HowLifeWorks
New Food Sprinkle Convinces the Brain to Stop Over-Eating view!
howlifeworks.com - How sophisticated scents are helping people control their appetite and lose weight
47 Comments
- BrettFromTibet, on 10/12/2007, -4/+32There is nothing in nature that is more precious to me than the coral reefs. It is the most beautiful, colorful, and dazzling thing we have.
- bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22I live right on the Reef (in the same city as the mentioned James Cook University)
Some of my good friends are Marine Biologists/Zoologists/Environmental Scientists in the region. This is one of the most sensitive regions, and one of the early warning signs of climate change.
Now let me say this in the simplest possible terms. There is NO question of man's impact on the environment, especially when it comes to the reef. The notion of zero consensus is ENTIRELY fabricated by a few paid scientists and its laughed/cried at by anyone currently working in the field. Watching the reef be destroyed before my very eyes is absolutely devestating. Crown of thorns growing as a result of agricultural run off, combined with coral bleaching, trawling and other anthropogenic problems are really hearbreaking to see. We need to wake up and put these paid industry stooges on trial for criminal negligence as far as i'm concerned. I hope noone forgets what the oil industry has done after we've moved beyond oil for our transport. - Brocclibob, on 10/12/2007, -5/+22Shame. Sucks to see such a beautiful thing getting ruined. I must make note to go there when i can.
Australia is getting screwed over worst in global warming. We get to be the lucky ones with a giant Ozone "Hole" over us. - estvir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16It really is beautiful, I've been to the GBR before on a holiday (A lonnggg drive up north) -- it's sad news but not 'new' to me, they've been reporting this over the past couple of years (?) but seems it's getting /really/ bad.
: (
-1 Aussie tourist attraction
-1 Nature - Phyter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16George Carlin:
"The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!"
"Pack your *****, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance." - CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13you can see this too here in the keys. in shallow water you can see bleached spots too. in the highly active hurricane season of 2005 i was down in islamorada and the water was so hot it would burn your ankles. you had to quickly walk into deeper water until it got cool enough.
the coral die off is probably the biggest proof to me of global warming. if i shut off the chiller in my aquarium my corals start to bleach, when it gets hot in the ocean, the corals start to bleach. the only difference is the corals i have are south pacific and the ones in the ocean here are atlantic.
the corals out in the ocean have been there for hundreds perhaps thousands of years and only now they're dying. that just screams to me of some sort of manmade influence. i mean why would they die now?
in the summer you see the algae grow like crazy as the temperature goes up. i leave the chiller off on my aquarium and suddenly get alot of algae growth. coincidence?
in the winter in the keys the water is cooler and there is vastly less algae and muck the same goes when the temp is stabilized on my tank.
honestly i think the only shot the caribbean has now is propagating urchins to scrub the algae off the reefs and releasing them or enclosing some reefs somehow and chilling the water or increasing circulation with pumps like an aquarium. in the summertime the water gets still and hot and that is a recipe for disaster.
one of the things i blame is the exponential growth of china. theyre burning more oil over there now faster than ever before. theyve increased green house emissions dramatically in a very short while and i wonder if that went away if things would change somewhat. coral reef conservationists hands are really tied. theres not a whole lot you can do locally when the problem is with the planet's temperature. - bitcloud, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14you're wrong.
mankind has crossed an important boundary. Unlike just about any other species that has ever existed, we've demonstrated the ability to alter the chemical makeup od biological compounds. We're able to take organic matter and lock it into permanent toxic jailhouses. We're able to (and dependent upon) converting stable compounds into unstable compounds, and we daily leak these lethal cocktails into the atmosphere at a rate of 4.9 million litres a day.
We've brought the species extinction rate up to a phenomenal level. It's cute to be humble in our humanity, but this is bigger than george carlin. I've had similar thoughts asking if our notions of self descruction (murder suicide as it where) were arrogant. They aren't. We have the planet wired to explode and we've driven countless organisms to the brink of, or over the brink of extinction. The planet's not going anywhere, but the beautiful phenomenon of biodiversity is already and will continue to be a tragic waste while we pretend we're simply fluttering around making nests like any other of the planets creatures... - canyonero26, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Humans have destroyed many many species. Australia is a particularly bad offender- we have cleard 50% of our forests, degraded over 50% of our arid and semi arid lands and 20 out of the 40 mammal extinctions have been in Aus!! Approx 800 species of plants and 111 species of animals are endangerd in Aus
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The coral bleaching from heat is temporary.
We know this because there are reefs which are in localities where human activities have increased water temperature (e.g. close to effluents from power plants) and while they bleach initially, they over time actually adapt to the increased temperature. True, some species disappear, but as a whole the reef recovers.
A much greater threat to coral reefs, in the long run, is the lowering of the pH of the sea due to increased atmospheric CO2. If the pH of the sea drops one unit, as will be the case in about a century unless CO2 emissions are drastically reduced, then coral reefs simply can not be maintained - the limestone they are made up of will dissolve. That limestone dissolves at lower pH's is a basic physical property of calcium carbonate, and unlike slightly elevated temperature not something coral reefs can adapt to. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14Yup its true.. Humans are a virus.
We suck the resources out of whatever we can and then we expand and duplicate.
No one is going to kill them selfs the save the planet so instead we will die with it.
It was nice knowing you guys. - Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@chriskzoo: the end-of-the-iceage mass extinction event is still ongoing - it is a common misconception that extinction events are sudden; even the K/T extinction took millions of years. Some researchers even think the present rate of extinction is greater than during the K/T extinction event.
The present, on-going, Holocene extinction event is unique among all previous extinctions in that it is entirely human-made. - KutterMax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This happened in the Maldives with El Nino. The Maldives were know for their beautiful stoney coral reefs, but with the warming a lot of it was destroyed and has been replaced by soft coral.
- kent1146, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6While I disagree with your viewpoint, I understand your argument... there have been worse disasters in the history of the planet, and the planet is still here. No big deal. But that sounds like sticking your head in the sand and hoping the problem goes away.
I was listening to TWiT yesterday, where they were talking about why the AACS, MPAA, and RIAA cling to DRM so tightly. The idea is that these companies are so fearful of change and a world where they don't have control over distribution. So they stick to their old business model, stick their heads in the sand, and hope it all blows over. In light of PirateBay, DeCSS, and distribution of the HDDVD code, that model seems to be working quite well for them [/sarcasm]
Just because worse things have happened doesn't mean business as usual. How much sense would it make if someone broke their arm, but refused to get medical treatment because they figure they have survived a heart attack in the past, and they're still here? "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - ML King - Kevinman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is very sad...I used to live in Seychelles and there the water rose by 2degreesC in 2001, killing all coral around the main island. You'd go out to dive sites that used to be hubs for many tropical fish and it was beautiful, but now are just large white deserts of broken coral and very litlle fish...it really is sad to see something so beautiful and world renowned to become a victim of global warming...perhaps t may bring more attention to the issue, though.
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think you'll find that Great White was caused by their _parents_ inability to use the barrier method.
- slantyeyed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i can drive a different car, change my light bulbs, but the power to my house will still come from the fossil fuel burning power station. There's nothing you can do to stop those unless you want to foot the bill for a cleaner power station that nobody wants to build in their backyard.
- CiXeL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2dude all of florida is made of that rock, find a quarry
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@arpad: Who was talking about _sea level_?
- canyonero26, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dear LiRM35- as im an 'asshead' as you so intelligently called us and I flucked science- I'd just like to point out that im currently studing a masters in coastal/environmental managment and am spending 10 days on the GBR studying this- so uhh, ...your scientific qualifications are what now???
- roywaits, on 02/02/2008, -1/+2It's all about the mangroves. Straight up, save the mangroves and you save the reef. I was there 6 months ago and a guide gave it to me straight. Thing is, mangroves only grow on beachfront property and developers are always quick to buy that up and develop it. (like Cairns). So, unfortunately, aside from the Daintree area, the mangroves / reef are gonna get *****...
- obliviousfool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very good book. Sad, but good.
- BESTenemy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ahem. How long does it take for the ocean to warm up? Anyone familiar with the temperature buffer effect? With current solar activity it takes about 500 years to raise the ocean temperature by one degree overall, and the effects of thermal expansion come first. Before you feel water get warmer, you'll see the levels rise. Global Warming cannot be blamed for the existing change as it would take hundreds of years for the ocean to catch up. However, long before that it is possible for the surface temperature changes to cause the change of direction in upper currents. Coral reefs are relatively close to the coastline, so I do find the explanation plausible. Wish the article was more comprehensive.
- BillDoor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@islanddog I agree with you the Earth has been hit by numerous asteroid and the Earth has always survived. So if we discover one that's 100m long we should just ignore it. Let's face it anyone who says we should shot in down or something are just alarmist and doomsday leftist hippies.
- angryredplanet, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4@CiXeL
I agree with your sentiments, but to blame China is not right. They're only trying to get where our countries are already. Plus they support one of the largest populations on the planet. Granted that Kyoto really cut them a great deal and they're building coal fired power plants faster than we can count them, but at the end of the day we are all to blame for this.
We are an adaptable species. Given the right resources, I believe there is a non-poluting way to harness all the energy we need, freely. I have read a lot of material about over-unity generation devices that need no tangible fuel (the "fuel" is from the background zero point field hence there are no violations of the 1st law of thermodynamics). There have been apparatus that have been successfully demonstrated like Dr. Tom H. Moray's radiant energy device of the 1920's (produced 50KWh with no input of anything), which used a type of ion-acoustic oscillation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Moray . Needless to say, Moray's family was threatened, he was nearly assassinated, his lab was infiltrated by "spies" and all his work stolen or destroyed. He was self funded and eventually ran out money. Akin to Tesla.
We're just stuck with centuries old technologies that are protected by those in power. Big oil, coal and gas will do what is needed to ensure that their interests are not jeopardised by some lowly (and extremely underfunded) scientists. This is hardly suprising given their power and the patents they've shelved until a time when they've milked every last drop. - bawpcwpn, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@short_man - don't be a pretentious, sarcastic dick. Maybe you should get off digg and take a look outside and see the damage that is being done by global warming.
- ichbinladen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1White Death?? Wait till Al Sharpton hears of this...
- canyonero26, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Thats exactly right- increasing pH of the ocean is something that is going to drastically affect the coral reefs, as well as any invertebrate that secretes a CaCO3 shell. The zooxanthelle that inhabit the corals and hence keep the corals alive abandon ship when temp increases. If the bleaching event is sustained, the coral will die. Post bleaching event, other coral can recolognise once the zoox return. There is one school of thought at the moment that says the when the temp increases and corals bleach, the more resistant zoox will remain and while MANY species of coral will die out (forever), the few zoox that are able to adapt will remain, with some corals remaining- hence survival of the fittest. HOWEVER (and this is in reply to all those that have said the earth has experienced fluctuations in temperature change many times) yes, it has experienced temperature changes, but NEVER have they been as rapid as what is occuring today. Species (including zooxanthelle and hence corals) may not be able to adapt quick enough to the rapid increase in temperature. Similarly, yes there have been several sea level regessesions and transgressions, but once again, not as rapid as what is (or is about) to happen. Seven of the worlds warmest yeasr ever were recorded in the 1990's, mean sea level has risen, global cloudiness has increased, home ranges of animals is changing as temperature changes. The evidence is clear that climate change is happening- it's now a matter of WHAT will happen WHEN. The GBR is not necessarily doomed though. Whilst slight increases in sea level and temperature will most likely drastically affect the northern reef for the worst, possibly resulting in destruction, it may provide favourable conditions int eh southern barrier reef, facillitating coral growth- however increased storms will increase erosion and wave destruction. Drastic increases in sea level will most likely drown and destroy the reef (look at the evidence of ancient drowned reefs) with the drowned reefs becomeing encrusted with algae and being eroded by storms.
- Rooster99, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Dear World
STOP ***** RUINING THE WORLD!! ITS HOT ENOUGH HERE AS IT IS!!!!
From Australia
P.S. I know, I know, we're just as bad on a per capita basis, but when u consider that we have just over 20 million population, its a drop in the ocean. - CheezIt9109, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5About as pathetic as the "but it's only a few degrees!" folks. Science is too complicated for some people.
- kuttfree, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3good story, but has anyone here read THE WEATHER MAKERS by Tim Flannery? This is old news (but sad)
- waffledad, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3OK, where are THESE scientests? quoted from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun
"Faint young Sun problem
Main article: Faint young Sun paradox
Theoretical models of the Sun's development suggest that 3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago, during the Archean period, the Sun was only about 75% as bright as it is today. Such a weak star would not have been able to sustain liquid water on the Earth's surface, and thus life should not have been able to develop. However, the geological record demonstrates that the Earth has remained at a fairly constant temperature throughout its history, and in fact that the young Earth was somewhat warmer than it is today. The consensus among scientists is that the young Earth's atmosphere contained much larger quantities of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and/or ammonia) than are present today, which trapped enough heat to compensate for the lesser amount of solar energy reaching the planet.[22]"
Sadly, there is a natural cycle that has been known about for years...and has been going for millions. At one time, there was no ice cap (and it probably will completely melt before it starts to come back again... nothing we can do about that. There will be another ice age but not in my lifetime. Sure, we probably speed things up a bit but we cannot control mother nature. Get a grip, recycle, take care of what we have but if we let the politicians have a say, they will find a way to tax this for some sort of cash cow. - c0y0t3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I do not believe this water temperature rise is due to human cause alone - there are normal warming and cooling cycles, and the global warming hysteria will not change this in the slightest. It seems however that scientists who would otherwise debunk are generally silent because of the positive effect of the false belief. I would like to have a cleaner environment, regardless of the "facts" that cause people to change behavior, however I worry that this may one day have the "crying wolf" effect, and when Al Gore's prophecy does not come to pass, people will ignore real climate change related problems because they will refuse to believe they exist... oh well. Please continue your panic.
- c0y0t3, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@ bitcloud:
*****. Sounds just like the "terrorists are at the gates" alarmist crap that got us into Iraq. Just because you are sold, doesn't mean restating the same crap ever more firmly is going to convince me we are as poised at the brink of extinction as you seem to believe. But please, continue your hysterical hand waving and trying to get the world to stop burning fossil fuels. Just don't expect it to happen until somebody figures out how to run a car on political rhetoric. - arpad, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Oh fer God's sake, 22,000 years ago sea levels were almost 400 feet lower then they are today. The Great Barrier Reef managed to survive that slight inconvenience without Cro-Magnons having to eat their mammoth steaks very rare. And since I brought it up, it's worth noting that sea levels have been going up, more or less continuously since the end of the last ice age.
This chart puts the next chart into a reasonable context:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Post-Glacial_Sea_Level.png/300px-Post-Glacial_Sea_Level.png
And this chart, without the previous chart, is good for scaring people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Recent_Sea_Level_Rise.png - chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -12/+11"We've brought the species extinction rate up to a phenomenal level."
REally? Not NEARLY the level we saw 65 millions years ago or during the end of the last ice age. Honestly, how do live life day-to-day with such hysteria going through your mind. If you REALLY wanted to make a difference, I doubt you'd be wasting your day (and energy) on message boards.
But such is the life of the current generation - talk about it, do nothing. - nondescrypt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Digg community appreciation comment !!!!!!!!!!!
I just want to say that I am consistently amazed with all the intelligent, high quality comments on Digg. So many interesting points & insightful comments.
You can really tell this is a young crowd with a mind of it's own. It's so refreshing. The big' old 3 (or is it 4) major media companies of the world make me ***** sick every time I hear their BS, but then Digg comes & saves the day, reminding me that there is intelligent life on this planet & that things ARE evolving & changing & things might just get fixed up when we take our proper place as the next generation on this planet.
you guys & girls Kick Ass !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also... lately Digg has become not only a news tracker but a news Maker !!! (Ron Paul stuff & HDDVD hex numbers) I can't wait to see where this all goes - Error601, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It's amazing what the tiny fraction of a degree predicted by computer models does. I thought it was farming runoff that was damaging the reefs, but I guess that's not trendy anymore because biodiesel is fashionable.
It was interesting how all the socialist groups on May Day used global warming as a central theme. Kind of makes you go hmmmmmm.... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1More hysteria from the eco-nuts.
Coral bleaching has been going on since - well - as long as there have been coral reefs.
I love reading the comments by the imbeciles who now think humans are a virus - ever since the idiot article came out a week or so ago. LOL. Talk about a perfect example of self loathing stupid liberals.
Think about that for a minute.
Only a liberal is self centered enough to think that humans can actually impact this planet. Why? Because they are pretty much self centered in every other area of life - up to and including using abortion as a means of birth control.
And only a liberal hates itself so much that it would consider its own species a virus. LOL.
Hey assheads - get a grip. Planet Earth has been here for - oh I don't know - about 4.3 billion years longer then humans have. Here's a clue for you idiots who flunked science: It's going to be here for billions of years AFTER we are long gone.
Extinction is the rule - survival is the exception. But oh my God - how can that be? How can we not be able to save the spotted owl? Because, jerkoffs - you aren't that powerful.
Liberals should actually get out into the environment that they give so much airplay to saving - they might actually learn something about the way the world works. Reading books also helps - those are those things that have the black stuff on the white pages that pass on what the rest of us call "information".
LOL. Humans. A virus. What will the dumb asses come up with next!
Well, at least liberals are a good source of entertainment. And they have fun sounding names, too - like "Earth Goddess" or "Wolf Whisperer" or "Sky Talker" and "Wind Dancer". You know I'd join Earth First, but I can't come up with a good nick! LOL. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4Old news, but OK. I guess there would be some people outside of Australia who dont know about this yet.
- Nodaki, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Sweet...sale on crushed coral for my aquarium!!
- iamso910, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2The sheeples fall for yet another fear campaign. Don't you all realise that fear is the no.1 tool of those who seek power.
The reefs have been around for tens of thousands of years, and have survived much hotter times than those existing today.
If the damage to the reefs is as considerable, as those who get more funding money when they discover damage, keep saying, then I expect it is more likely to be due to run off of soil particulates via farming than global warming.
Studies show that sea warming lags behind temperature warming by hundreds of years. Sea temperature variations today then, are more likely caused by cyclical events such as el-nino or solar radiation changes.
95% of people believe that humans are causing global warming. 95% of people think that government can solve their problems. 95% of people are idiots. Coincidence?....not entirely. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1time to gas up and drive to my buddy's house across the street for gas-powered bbq
- ryansmith18, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1rofl....all you people actually CARE.
- Charginmahlazer, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1lol
- JimmyTheClam, on 10/12/2007, -14/+6What garbage!
I can't believe the number of ignorant fools that buy into this anthro-global warming nonsense.
Coral has been around longer than we have and has existed in MUCH warmer oceanic temperatures than today.
If coral is disappearing from the great barrier reef, then it isn't because of "global warming" killing it.
Think for a second people!
What comprises 99% of a coral reef?
DEAD CORAL skeletons!
It might stop growing for a while but it's not disappearing.
Bad science, disingenuous scientists, and their opportunistic political shills are very bad things, because they divert resources and delay discovering the real root-cause of a problem. - IslandDog, on 10/12/2007, -14/+5The Earth has been warming and cooling for countless years, and the environment survived and adapted. This global warming scare tactic by leftist politicians is nothing but that......political.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -26/+4OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS ENDING!! THE SEA IS GETTING WARM!!! ARGH!!!
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 
