[Coral-List] Using bubbles to remove CO2 from reef waters

[martina]

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
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