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

Jim Harper Jim at harperfish.com
Tue Oct 21 13:44:22 EDT 2014


Peter Sale,

Thanks for this posting of genuine concern, and for concluding in the essay that we "have a moral obligation to join forces.” That statement identifies two problems: that scientists try to practice impartial, amoral science, and that individuals think they are right (myself included). The coral crisis has shifted rapidly into a highly moral, civil rights issue. Scientists are not prepared for that. Its scale also demands collaboration outside of science, and outside of technical solutions. Scientists are not prepared for that. We have to find ways to bridge the gap from a technical problem to a moral solution. 
 
My perspective, as a new social scientist and experienced journalist, is that there is no “movement” for coral reefs. There are lots of scientists and organizations and plans, but there is no integrated strategy to win (reefs have been losing for decades). We need to copy winning strategies and build a movement that targets centers of power/agents of change. For example, the Rainforest Alliance "harnesses market forces as part of its strategy to arrest the major drivers of deforestation and environmental destruction: timber extraction, agricultural expansion, cattle ranching and tourism (Wikipedia).” Where is the integrated strategy for seafood, shipping, diving, etc.? And especially for tourism and fossil fuel? If don’t see it, and I really care about it, so how can the general citizens connect, when they already have the “out of mind” mentality? 

My attempt at a solution is to create a regional organization for Caribbean reefs, but I don’t know how to fund it (same old problem). But If I could magically accomplish one step today, I would put a parrotfish on every Coke can. This symbol will launch millions of conversations, and that energy will force a movement to emerge. That’s all I’m saying; we need a new movement.    

   Jim W. Harper 

New Nonprofit Plan: Caribbean Reef SOS (http://crsos.org)
New Resume: http://www.harperfish.com
New M.S. in Environmental Studies ’14; M.A. '96 
Same cell in Miami: 786-423-2665 

On Oct 21, 2014, at 8:15 AM, coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov wrote:

> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:02:40 -0400
> From: Peter Sale <sale at uwindsor.ca>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Why we are failing to repair coral reefs
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Message-ID:
> 	<OF55193349.1D6BE91D-ON85257D77.005C7CEA-85257D77.005DA1BF at uwindsor.ca>
> 	
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> 
> 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

   Jim W. Harper 

New Nonprofit Plan: Caribbean Reef SOS (http://crsos.org)
New Resume: http://www.harperfish.com
New M.S. in Environmental Studies ’14; M.A. '96 
Same cell in Miami: 786-423-2665 





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