[Coral-List] The real problem.

[frahome at yahoo.com]

Thank you for bringing up this
point so clearly.
I came to the unpleasant conclusions that coral reefs research might be fun and
interesting but does very little to save them in practice. This applies to many
other environmental efforts not to mention the technological ones.
It is harsh to think that if everybody on the planet would be a typical western
coral scientist or "environmentalist", reef would be likely long time
gone. 
We already know a lot more than we need to realize that what can save the reef is to
move towards a low-energy lifestyle focused on taking care of the land and
re-building soil fertility following nature patterns. And this needs to be started
by individuals and communities, it won't start from above.
Tourism should be restricted to volunteering in projects that help make
communities self-sufficient for subsistence (e.g. through sustainable food production and family planning), rather than be aimed to build a
"tourism industry".
Just another guilty individual that is trying to make the transition but
finding a lot of selfish resistance.
Francesca
PS.. Are the drops in the bucket that at the end fill the bucket and call for
the change. I do not see any other possibility.




________________________________
 From: John Ware <jware at erols.com>
To: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> 
Sent: Thursday, September 6, 2012 11:05 PM
Subject: [Coral-List] The real problem.
 
Dear List,

While it certainly seems important to exploit as many "green" options as 
possible, the fact remains that, in the long run there is very little 
really meaningful that can be done until everyone (that is, everyone on 
the planet) recognizes two things:

1- We really are changing the Earth's climate.
2- The gorilla in the living room (the REAL PROBLEM): There are too many 
of us and each of us consume too many resources.

And, before we all pat ourselves on the back for whatever it is we are 
doing, the chances are that many, perhaps most, coral-reef scientists, 
especially those in the developed countries, consume more resources than 
the average person in their country.  Clearly, the average person did 
not fly to Cairns for a coral reef symposium.  The average person in the 
USA does not fly to some far-off Pacific reef in order to gather data so 
that another paper bemoaning the state of coral reefs can be published.

And I am as guilty as anyone.
John

-- 
    *************************************************************
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    *                      John R. Ware, PhD                    *
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    *     |\/__       Untainted by Technology            \      *
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If you are a coral-reef scientist and you are not a member
of the International Society for Reef Studies, then
shame on you.
Become a member of the International Society for Reef Studies
http://www.coralreefs.org


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