Posted on 11/17/2009 8:26:17 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Australia's Great Barrier Reef will be severely bleached and eventually die unless the world's industrialised nations drastically cut carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent by 2050, a leading coral scientist has warned.
Professor Terry Hughes and representatives of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies told a meeting at the Canberra parliament that the future of the reef, and a large chunk of Australia's tourist industry, was under grave threat from rising sea temperatures.
Just a small increase in average temperatures could cause massive coral bleaching on the reef, he said.
"We've seen the evidence with our own eyes. Climate change is already impacting the Great Barrier Reef," said Prof Hughes, of James Cook University in Queensland.
To avoid permanently damaging the delicate balance of life on the reef, and give the world's largest living organism a 50 per cent chance of survival, global carbon emissions must be cut by at least 25 per cent by 2020, he said.
The Great Barrier Reef currently contributes almost £3 billion annually to the Australian economy, according to his university.
Prof Hughes made his grim prediction as the Australian parliament debated the details of the government's planned Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. A final vote on the carbon trading bill is expected next week.
Australia, one of the world's biggest carbon emitters per capita, has so far only pledged to cut its emissions by five per cent from 2000 levels by 2020.
It has said it would go further, with a 25 per cent cut, if a tough international climate agreement is reached at UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December, but this is looking increasingly unlikely.
John Quiggin, of the University of Queensland, has carried out research which shows the economic impact of a two degree
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
It has to be the USA fault. /s
BUNK!
The reef is not delicate. Coral is absolutely dependent upon CO2 for its survival. The earth has been warmer and colder in recent history. The seas change temperature constantly due to currents from warm and cold climes. These scare tactics are adolescent and ignorant. So much for the glories of science.
Another chicken little global warming disaster prediction. LOL!
Please call me when this is not all speculation! I am getting very tired of the “sky is falling” carp coming from way too many environmentalists (future money grabbers). Hey folks - we are not going to create all those environmental saving jobs and you’re not going to get rich - so knock it off!
Another absurd “climate change” doomsday scenario.
The reef is as old as the ages and has thrived through numerous warmer and colder cycles and much higher CO2 concentrations. These scare tactics are absolute bunk.
I don’t care what happens to some dumb reef, what about Americans who can’t find work because 0bama has socialized them to unemployment?
Well, I just bet. Wasn’t it the ozone hole ten years ago? And that was killing the Aussies with skin cancer? They should all read The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
I know of Professor Terry Hughes, and the jerk is an arm-flapping, screeching moron. He believes that CO2 is a pollutant and H2O will destroy the world.
The man has moved beyond moron to blithering idiot.
Remember how Sting got that Indian up on stage and swore the Amazon rain forest had AT MOST 8 years left?
That was 20 years ago.
90%? Kiss that reef goodbye. The Chicoms and Indians do not care about your damn reef.
And NOW! Maximun Energy!!!
I saw a documentary on this. It seems that fertilizer used on farms, runs off the farm land and into the sea during the rainy season. This has caused an explosion of a certain kind of starfish that eats the live coral, leaving behind the bleached exoskeletons of the old coral.
Local problem with a local solution...but there is no money in that.
Well, the reef will die when the oceans boil away, right? /equally libidiotic Der Spiegel
Here is a link to the story of the starfish, for those who are interested.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/killer_starfish.php
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