[Coral-List] Using bubbles to remove CO2 from reef waters
martina
m.milanese at studioassociatogaia.com
Tue May 10 09:24:03 EDT 2016
Hi everybody,
apologies if I keep repeating the same things every six months - it
seems this is a quite recurring topic and we feel the need to restate
our positions every now and then. Pity we don't move forward. If we
spent the same energy and time doing things instead of writing about
things done (or supposedly not done) by others, we would probably
achieve a lot more.
It is also sort of funny to see how, whatever the topic of a post where
"diving" is mentioned, we inevitably end up discussing about the evil
diving industry (wasn't the topic on something else?). It reminds me of
the stereotyped movie characters that keep blaming the governing party
whatever the chat is about, even when it is not ruling since ages...
Now, back to diving...
First of all, to get rid of any misunderstanding, let me say that I'm
not naive: I do see the problems linked to the diving industry, as I
would see for any mass-consumption based human industry. However, as
said before, I do also see the potential benefits (besides economic
ones) linked to the same diving industry and regret these are hardly
ever pointed out in such discussions.
The second thing is: why this obsession with DEMA as if each and every
instructor, dive center, diver was a brainless puppet in their hands?
Anyone living outside the US would notice DEMA is far far and again far
away ... Real life occurs on a day-to-day basis and decisions are
definitely not taken based on a DEMA diktat. Believing the opposite and
basing a campaign on this assumption leads nowhere.
Third: once agreed that the diving industry is part of the problem, why
this obsession with it being the only and major actor in it - as if the
whole responsibility to react and take action was on its shoulders?
Provocation: all divers going to the Maldives reach them by plane, all
tourists going to the Maldives reach them by plane, yet not all tourists
going to the Maldives are divers. This holds for most if not all diving
destinations. Is the diving industry the only one deemed to bear
responsibility for climate change? I have hardly ever read posts calling
the airline industry into the picture. Bias? Too powerful to tackle? Up
in the air? Why this?
Fourth: things are changing. See the latest teaching materials of most
agencies and, for a time, try not be skeptical. See the work by Green
Fins (and their recent papers, which are OA by the way - no excuses for
avoiding a nice read). Check what various initiatives around the world
are achieving (I can speak for the EU project Green Bubbles, of course,
although our first papers are currently still under review). I am not
saying this is enough and the problem is now solved. For sure there's
still a long way to go and we are far than done. But blaming and blaming
and just blaming even when somebody is trying to change direction and do
things right is not an effective way to achieve. On the contrary, it
will keep the good ones distant, and we cannot complain if they lose
trust in science or decision making when all we are able to say is "you
are bad".
These is my very personal view, but I feel I am not the only one on this
page.
Cheers
Martina
--
Dr Martina Milanese, PhD
skype: m.milanese
it.linkedin.com/pub/martina-milanese/36/634/469/
twitter: @martix_m
Italian Mob. (WA) +39-338-1196672
Moroccan Mob. +212-636808514
Studio Associato Gaia Snc dei Dottori Antonio Sarà e Martina Milanese
Via Brigata Liguria 1/9 scala A
16121 Genova - Italy
PI 01600400996
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