[Coral-List] Save the date - Intl. Scuba Diving Sustainability Workshop - 19-21 October

Tue Sep 18 21:40:46 UTC 2018

Steve,
     It is fantastic to read that the tourism operators in Australia have
made this change in attitude.  The previous attitude was so short sighted.
Should we lie to the public that everything is OK?  Granted, we need to
make very clear the difference between bleaching, which is not a good
thing, and coral mortality, which is the really bad thing.  Corals can
bleach and recover, and that is vastly better than bleaching and dying.
The majority of corals on the GBR survived and are alive and you can still
dive at places that look fantastic, though some areas had high mortality.
The mortality is "simply awful" as Charlie Veron said.  But the GBR is FAR
from all dead.  Tourists need to hear the truth, the full truth, the good,
the bad, and the ugly.  It was much worse at places like Chagos (which has
now had 90% mortality twice (!) and recovered once and perhaps mortality
has been as bad in some others (not all at the same time).  The rest of
society needs to know the truth even more, and that truth includes the fact
that this is all going to get much, much worse if society, led by
government, doesn't take strong action.  Because governments and societies
have dawdled and not taken action for decades, we now have to take much
stronger action to meet the goals of limiting the damage.  The lead time we
had to fix the problem was squandered.  The deniers have delayed action,
they've been super successful in their disinformation campaigns sowing
doubt in the US and Australia (see: Losing the earth: The decade we almost
stopped climate change.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html).
Australia has a particular problem that the leading newspaper in each of
their largest cities is owned by Rupert Murdock, who orders his newspapers
to print denier propaganda frequently.  (Correct me if I'm wrong.  I lived
6 yrs in Australia and absolutely love the country, in many ways they are
brilliant leaders, but not on climate change so far.  And of course many in
Australia want to take action, including probably almost all the coral reef
researchers.  A recent survey of non-scientists in Australia found 68%
supported the Paris targets, and the business community wants action, see
reference below) The USA and Australia are the most outstanding resisters
to facing up to the reality.  Australia is important for it's ability to
lead, for having 16% of the world's reefs, and the fact that it is the
world's largest exporter of coal.  The US is having worse and worse forest
fires each year, with smoke polluting the air so bad that this summer
Seattle had more polluted air than Beijing or probably Dehli.  Hurricane
damage is up.  Australia is hotter than ever with terrible drought.  The
future includes heat waves  that will kill huge numbers of people.
Australia and the western US will have worse and worse droughts that kill
vast numbers of livestock and really hurts farmers, and dries up water
sources like the Colorado river that makes the existence of cities like Los
Angeles and Las Vegas possible.  And the big fossil fuel company executives
and the stockholders are counting their money as the denier campaigns keep
the governments fiddling while Rome burns.  This is a solvable problem, we
know the solution, but we have got to get going in a serious way.  For our
own good as well as the reefs.  It will cost a tiny fraction of the amount
inaction will cost.
    Cheers, Doug

"If by some miracle we are able to limit warming to two degrees, we will
only have to negotiate the extinction of the world's tropical reefs,
sea-level rise of several meters and the abandonment of the Persian Gulf."
"The prospect of a five-degree warming has prompted some of the world's
leading climate scientists to warn of the end of human civilization."
(Rich, N., 2018. NY Times: Losing the Earth)  (If we continue business as
usual, there will be about six degrees C warming.)

Australia has no climate-change policy - again.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06675-9?utm_source=briefing-dy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=briefing&utm_content=20180917

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 7:27 AM Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Alex
>
> > “I think what will change attitudes in the leadership of the diving
> industry is mortality. “
>
> Perhaps it is the mounting evidence of the mortality of coral reefs
> themselves that will ultimately change the American dive industry’s
> attitudes.
>
> You know we’ve talked about Asian and European scuba industries being
> ahead of their American peers, but let’s not forget Australia. It seems to
> me that many high-profile scientists and conservation groups there have
> shown a heroic willingness to step up and challenge the status quo.
>
> From what I have read, the tourist industry in Australia (including scuba)
> was initially quite hostile to the attention drawn to the plight of the
> GBR. (I remember hearing about particularly hateful reactions leveled at
> Terry Hughes for example).
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/13/great-barrier-reef-tourism-spokesman-attacks-scientist-over-slump-in-visitors
>
> Now, it appears that attitudes may be changing.
>
> The Reef tourism industry in Far North Queensland has since issued a
> formal declaration demanding strong action be taken to protect the GBR from
> the impacts of climate change.
> Here’s the full statement from The Association of Marine Park Tourism
> Operators (AMPTO):
>
> REEF TOURISM CLIMATE DECLARATION
> We love the Great Barrier Reef.
>
> As Reef tourism businesses operating in the World Heritage area, we take
> seriously our responsibility to look after one of the world’s most
> beautiful and biologically rich ecosystems.
>
> Together we’re calling for bold action to protect this natural icon.
>
> We cannot understate the economic contribution of Reef tourism. The Reef
> is a magnet for people from Australia and around the world and generates $6
> billion each year and sustains 64,000 jobs.
>
> Despite the negative press, the Reef is a dynamic, vibrant, awesome place.
> But, like coral reefs around the world, it is under serious threat.
>
> Climate change, mainly driven by burning coal and other fossil fuels, is
> the single biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. The carbon pollution
> from coal, oil and gas is heating the air and the oceans to dangerous
> levels. Coral reefs around the world were damaged during an unprecedented
> marine heatwave in 2016 and 2017.
>
> It’s not too late to save our Reef but time is critical.
>
> The federal government has a responsibility to honour the Paris Agreement
> and protect the Reef on behalf of all Australians, all humanity and future
> generations. Yet our representatives continue to support the expansion of
> coal and gas, including Adani’s mega coal mine.
>
> To give our Reef the best chance for the future, Australia must join the
> rest of the world to rapidly phase out coal and other fossil fuels and
> transition to renewable energy.
>
> We call on all our political leaders to stand up for Far North QLD
> businesses and jobs and fight for the future of our Reef.
>
>
>
> It seems to me that this signed position statement indicates that instead
> of killing the messenger, the dive/tourism industry (at least in this part
> of Australia) has come to understand that it is in their best interest to
> embrace the science and work together in a concerted effort to save both
> the GBR and their economic future. It’s too bad that it took a long, hard
> look at catastrophic bleaching events to bring this on, but maybe, (just
> maybe), the American scuba diving industry can learn something from
> developments down under.
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Steve
>
>
-- 
Douglas Fenner
Contractor for NOAA NMFS Protected Species, and consultant
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

The world is losing the war against climate change
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/02/the-world-is-losing-the-war-against-climate-change

How Did the Climate Apocalypse Become Old News?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/climate-change-wildfires-heatwave-media-old-news-end-of-the-world.html

By getting serious about limiting global warming, the world could save
itself more than $20 trillion.  (action would cost only a half trillion
over 30 years, a third the cost of the Iraq war, benefits would be 40 times
costs, that's a huge return on investment)
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-global-warming-costs-20180523-story.html

Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets
(and 30% loss of world economy if the climate is allowed to warm by 4oC)
http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/s41586-018-0071-9