Save that "Finding Nemo" DVD...

[Leftseat86]

...because for your grand kids it will probably be their only glimpse of a coral reef. I read an interesting article in the New Yorker recently that explained how the world's oceans are becoming more acidic. Due to the surplus of CO2 in the air the ocean is absorbing more of the gas than it can handle. Thus the pH of the ocean is changing and an algae vital to coral reef growth is dying off. Conservative estimates say that between 1-4 million unique species need coral reefs to live, and it is predicted that by 2075 there will be little or no coral reefs left world.

This is of great interest because, 1. There are many other man-induced dangers to coral reefs, but this is a relatively new one. 2. Losing 1 million species from the ocean will have a dramatic effect on the food chain and thus will have far reaching consequences on our fishing markets and seafood industry. And I guess theres 3. Swimming in coral reefs is an amazing experience...

[FlyingPhotog]

The world's oceans have been affected by ice ages and warmings several times over the history of the world. I would assume this will continue to happen - regardless of human impact. And hopefully coral which is destroyed will be replaced somewhere in the future once the conditions are right again. It would suck if the only habitat for marine life was scuttled ships.

[pdeboer]

Coral reefs are indeed broken down, the coral reef of Curacau are already half gone. The story about acidic water is not really new, when I started my Biology study, (years ago...) I was already told about this danger. Other human interventions (diving, ships and anchors, etc.) have a large demolition effect as well.
About the fish, the effect is also the other way around, no fish around kills the coral; they eat the algae that grow on them, if they do not eat that, the coral dies.

On the plus side, recently Dutch researchers have found a method to cultivate coral (which was not possible before). Maybe they find ways to de coral transplantions to reefs in the future.

[Sam at MAN]

I personally belive that all this 'Global Warming' is just a load of bullsh!t...I reken that its just the world doing its thing, getting hotter or whatever. And the goverments are just playing on it to make you pay abit more tax each year.

Cheers

[JordanD]

I personally belive that all this 'Global Warming' is just a load of bullsh!t...I reken that its just the world doing its thing, getting hotter or whatever. And the goverments are just playing on it to make you pay abit more tax each year.

Cheers

How could you honestly say that unloading a shit ton of poisonous gasses into the air isn't having some sort of effect on the world?

[FlyingPhotog]

How could you honestly say that unloading a shit ton of poisonous gasses into the air isn't having some sort of effect on the world?

Volcanoes have done the same thing for billions of years (sulfur dioxide) before we started burning coal... Just because it's in the news does not mean it has not happened in the past.

[Airbus_A320]

Well here we go....

*puts on flame retardant suit*

[ATLcenter]

Well here we go....

*puts on flame retardant suit*

Note: suit was manufactured using environmentally safe methods in a carbon-neutral environment. suit contains no pollutants whatsoever. Suit is biodegradable, recyclable, and 100% natural.

[Sam at MAN]

Note: suit was manufactured using environmentally safe methods in a carbon-neutral environment. suit contains no pollutants whatsoever. Suit is biodegradable, recyclable, and 100% natural.

LOL!!!


Back on topic.
It's just my opinion but i really do think that it is a load of rubbish. In science we were looking at CO2 emmitions and stuff. He was saying that CO2 is going up and thats what most scientists think i causing global warming. But also, Methane and various other gasses are also rising, so the problem may not be CO2, but Methane from cattle etc.
Another thing he said is... When we started to use more coal and things, it got warmer so thats what they reken is causing global warming. But also, Methane started to increase because of more farming etc, so no one can really prove that its CO2 at the minute.

Sam

[JordanD]

I wasn't saying that humans are the sole cause of the earth's temperature getting all screwed up, but it's definitely possible that we're not helping things. I just think don't think it's good to sit around saying "maybe it's natural" because eventually, if we are causing a lot of it, it's gonna be too late.

[DAL767-400ER]

Oh yeah, the popular discussion about Global Warming. Well, there's no doubt that there is some kind of wheather shift going on, as is evidenced by way too warm winters in many parts. I don't believe in the theory that this causes more intense hurricanes (after all, there were not even any harmless hurricanes this year), but wheather is changing. And besides, if you want to see how humans are destroying the planet, just look to China. Oh of course, people will blame the SUV-driving Americans, but really, look at China, and compare it to the US for example: Their CO2 output is enormous, they have massive chemical spills at least once a week (when did that last happen in the US?), it has been said that 90% of all drinking water in China is poisoned, and their rivers look like liquid dump sites. I don't want to now how many water species living in the Yellow River and others have already been exterminated by all this pollution.

[seventwo]

The hundred or so years that the global warming theory is based on is a puny blip in the timeline, there is no way you can say climate is change from human activity with that little data. Earths climate is not as stable as it was once thought to be in interglacial periods, this has been proven by science (and tied in to global warming!) IMO, it is not impossible but there is a lot of money involved, not to mention the medias sensationalism.

[Airbus_A320]

Oh yeah, the popular discussion about Global Warming. Well, there's no doubt that there is some kind of wheather shift going on, as is evidenced by way too warm winters in many parts. I don't believe in the theory that this causes more intense hurricanes (after all, there were not even any harmless hurricanes this year), but wheather is changing. And besides, if you want to see how humans are destroying the planet, just look to China. Oh of course, people will blame the SUV-driving Americans, but really, look at China, and compare it to the US for example: Their CO2 output is enormous, they have massive chemical spills at least once a week (when did that last happen in the US?), it has been said that 90% of all drinking water in China is poisoned, and their rivers look like liquid dump sites. I don't want to now how many water species living in the Yellow River and others have already been exterminated by all this pollution.

Agreed... on all points.
And personally, I'd rather have 40 or 50 degress in December than 15 and black ice, high heating bills, shoveling snow, etc. Nice to be able to go out with just a sweat shirt instead of a coat and everything.

And besides China, look at Mexico, and other "developing countries". The USA isn't even as close to being as bad as they are. At least there aren't warnings about drinking the water here.

And even if you burn corn, or whatever it is instead of oil, it's still gonna produce gasses from combustion.

The hundred or so years that the global warming theory is based on is a puny blip in the timeline, there is no way you can say climate is change from human activity with that little data. Earths climate is not as stable as it was once thought to be in interglacial periods, this has been proven by science (and tied in to global warming!) IMO, it is not impossible but there is a lot of money involved, not to mention the medias sensationalism.

Yeah... most people don't even think for themselves, they just believe whatever random thoery somone puts out. And even if there was global warming... what are we gonna do? Stop driving, flying, etc. Don't think so. Whats gonna happen is gonna happen, not much you can do about it.

Personally I'm sick of this ZOMG THE PLANET IS DYING!!!!!111111!111 stuff. None us have been here long enough to really know WTF is going on. The earth is Billions of years old, how can data from a few hundred years be accurate as to all of natural history.

[DAL767-400ER]

And even if there was global warming... what are we gonna do? Stop driving, flying, etc. Don't think so. Whats gonna happen is gonna happen, not much you can do about it.

Well, it would be a start to get people to be more ecologically responsible, but that task is impossible. Some things people do are just plain dumb. Just as a small example, what is the sense, if you see the traffic light down the road turning red, to hit the pedal and speed to the traffic light as fast as possible? Why not just let your car roll out, so that no fuel is being consumed whatsoever? Of course, that is only one example, but there are many other examples like this that add up to larger sums, but again, you won't get that type of thinking out of people's heads.

[Leftseat86]

You guys can discount it all you want, and blame the media, the government, al gore or whoever, but the bottom line is, it is happening. The effects will be enormous. Whether you like it or not. And regardless of what YOUR opinion is, the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community is, YES we are causing global warming. The debate is still on as to the scope of our involvement, but it is painfully clear that we produce an excess of CO2 and other harmfull emmissions which the earth is not capable of handling on its own.

Volcanoes have done the same thing for billions of years (sulfur dioxide) before we started burning coal... Just because it's in the news does not mean it has not happened in the past.

Volcanoes have an almost insignificant effect compared to what we do.

Agreed... on all points.
And personally, I'd rather have 40 or 50 degress in December than 15 and black ice, high heating bills, shoveling snow, etc. Nice to be able to go out with just a sweat shirt instead of a coat and everything.

And besides China, look at Mexico, and other "developing countries". The USA isn't even as close to being as bad as they are. At least there aren't warnings about drinking the water here.

And even if you burn corn, or whatever it is instead of oil, it's still gonna produce gasses from combustion.



Yeah... most people don't even think for themselves, they just believe whatever random thoery somone puts out. And even if there was global warming... what are we gonna do? Stop driving, flying, etc. Don't think so. Whats gonna happen is gonna happen, not much you can do about it.

Personally I'm sick of this ZOMG THE PLANET IS DYING!!!!!111111!111 stuff. None us have been here long enough to really know WTF is going on. The earth is Billions of years old, how can data from a few hundred years be accurate as to all of natural history.

Its not a question of who is producing more emmissions than who. Just because China is a big polluter, that makes it okay for us to do it? The issue is, without the US behind an initiative, that initiative has no global weight. We have the power to encourage great change and we dont.

Its funny to me that you all discount global warming as propaganda when the biggest propaganda I have seen going on is being practiced by oil companies and auto manufacturers who want to instill exactly the kind of reactions in this thread. Exxon has been running "CO2 is not a pollutant, it is essential to life" ads, and Chevron paid for a huge campaign against a CA measure to reduce carbon emmissions from refineries. They all want you to keep buying hummers and gasoline because it makes their CEOs very rich, and you all seem to buy into the "nobody can know for sure" line. Well, scientists working on this do know pretty surely. They know enough to state very certainly that at our current rate of polluting, we are fucking up the world's natural resources very quickly.

Al Gore and others are not going around telling us about global warming because it makes them money. None of the initiatives we need to take to move forward on the problem would result in profits for anyone. In fact, as you all probably know, they will be very costly, and require huge changes in our way of life. But doing nothing will require the same, if not even greater changes to be made, when the consequences of our way of living will confront us. Nobody is trying to sell this to us for personal gain, its a matter of finding life precious, and understanding that this earth is a very delicate gift we have been given. This will sound preachy but it is the truth.