One of the big concerns I have with our perennial attempts to “save the planet” are that we really have no idea of what the actual outcomes of our policies and actions will be. We have “experts” telling us that “we have to do something” and yet we have interesting confluences of articles like this:

The world’s coral reefs will begin to disintegrate before the end of the century as rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere make the oceans more acidic, scientists warn.

The research points to a looming transition in the health of coral ecosystems during which the ability of reefs to grow is overwhelmed by the rate at which they are dissolving.

More than 9,000 coral reefs around the world are predicted to disintegrate when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach 560 parts per million.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today stands at around 388ppm, but is expected to reach 560ppm by the end of this century.

That all sounds very terrifying and horrible. Except the last panic turned out a bit differently:

Sections of coral reef in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have made a “spectacular” recovery from a devastating bleaching event three years ago, marine scientists say.

In 2006, high sea temperatures caused severe coral bleaching in the Keppell Islands, in the southern part of the reef — the largest coral reef system in the world. The damaged reefs were then covered by a single species of seaweed which threatened to suffocate the coral and cause further loss.

A “lucky combination” of rare circumstances has meant the reef has been able to make a recovery.

A “lucky combination”, eh? Curious how when things are going wrong, it can all be blamed on man and when things go right, it’s “lucky”. Still, it will all be made clear, if only we could fund some more research so that the men in white coats can go spend time scuba diving around coral reefs and having “barbies” on beautiful sandy beaches.

Hm.

Perhaps they’re not so crazy after all…

1
Letters From A Tory March 2, 2010 at 09:34

You mean, they don’t understand how our climate interacts with the world around it? Say it ain’t so!

2
Alan March 2, 2010 at 10:25

Does it mention the corals in Florida that have been ‘killed’ this winter?

This King Cnut insistence that the environment stands still is maddening. A dose of high or low temps due to natural variation is not really a problem. If the original species doesn’t recover others will colonise that area eventually. It stands to reason – coral grows in a well defined band of ocean depth. It grows everywhere where the temperatures are mild enough and there is something for them to get hold of. It has been around for a very, very long time and managed perfectly well without us even though proxy climate records suggest temps and carbon dioxide levels have varied massively.

3
Brian March 2, 2010 at 10:40

Even the Moonbat is having a wobble about environmental wibble . What is the connection between religious fundamentalism and environmentalism? They are both mental.

4
Furor Teutonicus March 2, 2010 at 11:58

XX Alan March 2, 2010 at 10:25
It stands to reason –XX

Oh dear.

The junior school of “My Dad said so”

The senior school of “Some kid told me in the play ground”

The high school of “It stands to reason”

and finaly, the University of “Some bloke in the pub said”.

Although I agree with your point, the comment “It stands to reason” makes you look like a total Sun reader.

5
Alan March 2, 2010 at 12:55

Furor Teutonicus,

Is there something wrong with The Sun?

Perhaps ’stands to reason’ is the wrong idiom. What would be appropriate?

The longevity of ocean corals in comparison to the currently accepted proxy records showing vast changes in carbon dioxide and temperature is surely enough to say that it is unreasonable to be so alarmist about their condition.

The science is not certain about what effect increased ocean CO2 will have on coral. There are always winners and losers. That is life.

>In CO2-rich Environment, Some Ocean Dwellers Increase Shell Production

6
Alan March 2, 2010 at 12:56

A working link.

(Hopefully)