[Coral-List] Approaching game over

Sarah Frias-Torres sfrias_torres at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 21 12:18:25 EDT 2012


Mel,thank you for your comments.
I don't expect to be called to testify.
That gives me the freedom to say things the way they are.

Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Schmidt Ocean Institute Postdoctoral FellowOcean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA) 1420 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 USA Tel (772) 467-1600http://www.teamorca.orghttp://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTorres


> From: Mel at briscoe.com
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:55:16 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Approaching game over
> 
> "Once the Keystone pipeline is operational, it will be game over for Earth's
> climate and for the coral reefs."
> 
> I doubt that the extreme hyperbole is a good way to communicate your
> concerns to decision makers.
> They simply do not listen to Chicken Little.
> 
> "initiate a conversation with someone who still has a working brain in
> there"
> 
> A truely wonderful way to get someone to listen to you.
> Sarah, your emails are now in the (permanent) public record. 
> 
> Given your stated attitude, I doubt that you will be called to testify! This
> squanders your knowledge and passion.
> 
> Sorry.
> 
> - Mel
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Sarah
> Frias-Torres
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 10:22 AM
> To: coral list
> Subject: [Coral-List] Approaching game over
> 
> 
> Dear Coral-ListersI think we are approaching game over. 
> President Obama will announce tomorrow the permit approval for the southern
> portion of the Keystone XL
> pipelinehttp://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/03/21/exp-early-myb-k
> eystone.cnn
> This is a pipeline operated by TransCanada, that will connect the oil sands
> in Canada with U.S.  oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. While the
> approval is still pending for the portions of the pipeline that go through
> the U.S. heartland (and one of the most valuable aquifers in the country),
> approval of the southern portion of the pipeline means that, unless
> something dramatic happens, the pipeline will become a reality.
> Once the Keystone pipeline is operational, it will be game over for Earth's
> climate and for the coral reefs.
> When you follow the debate about this project, it's interesting to see that
> scientists are almost non existent. Reporters talk about "environmentalists"
> and use the words "believe" to frame the consequences of using the Canadian
> oil sands and the pipeline. As if environmentalists are running around in
> some mystical trance, playing with crystals, singing kumba-ya, and using
> their believes to "stop the progress of America". Whereas the statements
> from the oil companies are framed as facts. They even go to the extend of
> saying "Canadian oil sand use will diversify the country's energy
> resources".
> Where are the climate scientists, the marine scientists, the coral reef
> scientists in this debate? Are any of the top scientists on those research
> areas talking to government officials, warning them against using the oil
> sands?I don't know if Canadian scientists have approached the Canadian
> government asking to reconsider the use of oil sands. If they had, it didn't
> work.
> Considering the U.S. is the largest fossil fuel consumer in the world, you
> would expect top scientists have approached the government and demonstrated
> this madness has to stop. I'm not aware of a commission of top scientists
> speaking up... the Union of Concerned Scientists seems missing in action.
> What can we do?  
> July brings the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium. I wonder if this
> will be the last ICRS held while there are still living coral reefs out
> there. Besides the many activities during the Symposium, those attending
> should think about the 13th ICRS, in 2016. If nothing changes, the Keystone
> pipeline will be operational, the Canadian oil sands will have had 4 more
> years to burn, and so all the other fossil fuel burning all around the
> world.Maybe the 13th ICRS will be renamed as the "International Coral Reefs
> We Used to Have Symposium"
> Perhaps the world renowned scientists attending the upcoming ICRS could
> draft a letter to both the U.S. and Canadian governments, explaining the
> major environmental damage of oil sand usage, for land and marine
> ecosystems, willing to provide their scientific expertise to answer whatever
> questions politicians might have... maybe it can be signed up by those
> attending the Symposium. 
> Or perhaps, some of you in this list can get into the power circles in
> either government (or knows someone who can), and initiate a conversation
> with someone who still has a working brain in there.
> Or maybe someone in this list has a better idea on how to deliver the
> message.
> Think about it. Imagine if scientists could really change the world.
> Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Schmidt Ocean Institute Postdoctoral FellowOcean
> Research & Conservation Association (ORCA) 1420 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce,
> Florida 34949 USA Tel (772)
> 467-1600http://www.teamorca.orghttp://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTor
> res
>  		 	   		  
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