[Coral-List] Why we are failing to repair coral reefs

Tue Oct 21 23:14:01 EDT 2014

Dear Gaby:

I suggest you do more reading on the subject matter.  The optimal way to achieve reduction in human numbers is by everyone realizing the problem, having 1-2 children at most (or none is even better), and yes, less consumption, much-much less consumption:  more vegetarian diets, more non-fossil fuels, etc.  I have no hope that this will happen. The word sustainability is an oxymoron when used with human activities in concert with a growing human population.  We are destroying Earth ecosystems bit by bit.... We've already cut down ca. 50 % of the forests on Earth for agriculture, fuel and other human uses (yes, the rocks and the cockroaches will be here long after all human are gone) trying to make a living any way we can.  Environmental degradation is greatest in the poorest, most over-populated and resource poor parts of the Earth which have been exploited by humans the longest.  Developed countries contribute greatly to this degradation by exploiting these poor areas for natural resources.  There are lots of great books written about all this (the link you included in your post is ludicrous...it's up there with the climate deniers type of web blog), and these ideas are not new, but most people for some reason choose to ignore them:  too hard to face the choices if you agree they are true.   Expressions of outrage such as your are not helpful.  I will be gone by the time our social systems collapse in 20-30 years but I am afraid that people your age are going to be living in a "Soylent Green" long before you are my age.

Alina Szmant 

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." Eleanor Roosevelt

"The time is always right to do what is right"  Martin Luther King

*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee
Center for Marine Science
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
tel:  910-962-2362  fax: 910-962-2410  cell: 910-200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
*******************************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Gabriela Mayorga Adame
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 11:36 AM
To: Alan.E.Strong - NOAA Affiliate
Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Why we are failing to repair coral reefs

..... and then what? instead of science we should focus on creating a world war to wipe half of the human population?... and we should make it so that it kills developed countries people first, because they consume more, pollute more, destroy more... 10 times more than a human from the poorest countries... and then there is this:
http://www.overpopulationisamyth.com/overpopulation-the-making-of-a-myth#header-5

I think the focus should be SUSTAINABILITY, consume less, pollute less, destroy less, use alternative energy sources, produce locally, harvest wild population to the minimum... I think we need to look for global solutions, which involve international collaboration (lets all move to Texas!!), and I think the driving forces of this planet should stop being money and power...

Anyway... just the outrageous comment of a student in response to other outrageous comments...

Regards,

GaBy

Oc. Gabriela Mayorga Adame
Ph.D. Candidate
College of Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences Oregon State University
104 CEOAS Admin Bldg
Corvallis, OR 97331-5503
TEL: 541-737-9831

On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 5:34 AM, Alan.E.Strong - NOAA Affiliate < alan.e.strong at noaa.gov> wrote:

> Spot on Alina....only takes those in the Caribbean this past month who 
> have had to cope with the Sargassum "take over"!!
>
> Cheers,
> Al
>
>
> On 10/20/2014 6:19 PM, Szmant, Alina wrote:
>
>> Hello Peter:
>>
>> I read your essay in Reef Encounters.  All I will add is that if all 
>> we (whoever we is) are focused on is saving coral reefs, we are 
>> doomed to failure..  Coral reefs are just one of many ecosystems on 
>> Planet Earth that are in distress and being wiped out systematically 
>> due to the human
>> cancer:  forests (rain and temperate, and all other kinds), wetlands, 
>> tundra, coastal plains, estuaries, and on and on.  We can't hope to 
>> save one without saving them all, and to do that in the long term, we 
>> have to somehow reduce human numbers to half of those inhabiting 
>> Earth today.  It may be too late already, but the longer we wait to 
>> even recognize the root of the problem and get moving to do something 
>> about it, the less likely that this will happen in time to save the 
>> organisms and ecosystems we know and value.
>>
>> Alina
>>
>>
>> "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds 
>> discuss people." Eleanor Roosevelt
>>
>> "The time is always right to do what is right"  Martin Luther King
>>
>> *********************************************************************
>> ****
>> Dr. Alina M. Szmant
>> Professor of Marine Biology
>> AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee Center for Marine 
>> Science University of North Carolina Wilmington
>> 5600 Marvin Moss Ln
>> Wilmington NC 28409 USA
>> tel:  910-962-2362  fax: 910-962-2410  cell: 910-200-3913 
>> http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
>> *******************************************************
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov 
>> [mailto:coral-list-bounces@ coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Peter 
>> Sale
>> Sent: Monday, October 20, 2014 1:03 PM
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: [Coral-List] Why we are failing to repair coral reefs
>>
>> Hi,
>> I recently penned a comment on why we are, for the most part, failing 
>> in our efforts to repair and sustain coral reefs, despite the efforts 
>> of many dedicated and hard-working people.  It appeared in Reef 
>> Encounter, the on-line news journal of ISRS, and many readers of this 
>> list will have seen it already.  Thinking it might be worth wider 
>> dissemination, I've now put it up on my blog, with some pretty 
>> pictures attached.  You can access the blog at 
>> www.petersalebooks.com/?p=1708  and you can see the original in Reef 
>> Encounter which can be downloaded from the ISRS website at 
>> http://coralreefs.org/  Reef Encounter has lots of interesting content (perhaps even more interesting than my comment)!
>>
>> If you are a member of ISRS, you could also think of nominating 
>> someone to the ISRS Council, and if you are not a member, think about 
>> joining this international coral reef science community.
>>
>> Peter Sale
>>
>> sale at uwindsor.ca                 @PeterSale3
>> www.uwindsor.ca/sale           www.petersalebooks.com
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>
> --
>
>
> **** <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< ******* <>< *******
>
> Alan E. Strong, Ph.D.
> NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Senior Consultant Strong Research, Inc. & GST 
> National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Coral Reef Watch 
> Program
>  e-mail: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
> url: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov
>
> Mailing Address:
>
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