[Coral-List] Media hyperbole in coral science

[Douglas Fenner]

Apologies, I left out the link to the paper.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0231817&type=printable


Open-access.

Cheers, Doug

On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 8:47 AM Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> By pure luck, a new paper documents and projects survival of staghorn and
> elkhorn outplants.  I see in the abstract that " Results support NRP
> conclusions that reducing stressors is required before significant
> population growth and recovery will occur."  (NRP = NOAA recovery plan)
>       Reminds me of the Greek legend of Sisyphus.  He is condemned to
> spend all of eternity rolling a big rock up a hill, and then it rolls down
> again and he has to roll it back up the hill.  Dictionary.com says "a son
> of Aeolus and ruler of Corinth, noted for his trickery: he was punished in
> Tartarus by being compelled to roll a stone to the top of a slope, the
> stone always escaping him near the top and rolling down again."  So how did
> the ancient Greeks know???
>      Cheers, Doug
>
> On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 1:59 AM Steve via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi Keri,
>>
>> “I cannot personally comment on the hyperbole in the story, as the
>> article and statement that were shared were not written by The Florida
>> Aquarium. I can only presume that people are desperate for good news (or
>> any news other than CoVid) right now, making this hyperbole all the more
>> commonplace in the media. Something for all of us to be mindful of while
>> trying to share our work with the world”.
>>
>> I hear these sentiments all the time. Even well before the pandemic there
>> were many calling for “ocean optimism” as a rationale for promoting what
>> amounts to false hope for “saving coral reefs”. I just recently heard the
>> POTUS basically say the same thing in defense of his comments that tended
>> to downplay the impacts of COVID19. He said that he sees himself as a
>> cheerleader for the country and that is why he presents a more hopeful,
>> positive scenario for the country than perhaps the science actually
>> dictates.
>>
>> My question to you and others here is straightforward, but not meant to
>> be confrontational.
>>
>> How are we to have any chance of developing the political will in support
>> of a realistic strategy for dealing with the coral reef crisis if we keep
>> providing optimism in the form of “good news’ instead of a science-based,
>> realistic picture of what is actually going on?
>>
>> Maybe everyone in the know has already moved on and the time for “saving
>> coral reefs” has passed. Perhaps that is why the focus has shifted from the
>> need to address climate change, water quality issues and over-fishing to
>> genetic engineering and restoration. If that is the best we can do, the
>> most we can possibly hope for, then the coral science community needs to
>> step forward and say so. Then we can all have some time to mourn before
>> moving on into this strange new world.
>>
>> Sincere regards,
>>
>> Steve Mussman
>>
>> Sent from EarthLink Mobile mail
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Coral-List mailing list
>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Consultant
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>
> "mitigating climate change is the critical wedge to set coral reefs on a
> recovery trajectory"  Duarte et al 2020 Rebuilding marine life Nature
>
> "Already, more people die  <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml>from
> heat-related causes in the U.S. than from all other extreme weather events
> ."
>
> https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/624643780/phoenix-tries-to-reverse-its-silent-storm-of-heat-deaths
>
>
> Even 50-year old climate models correctly predicted global warmng
>
> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/even-50-year-old-climate-models-correctly-predicted-global-warming?utm_campaign=news_weekly_2019-12-06&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=3113276
>
> "Global warming is manifestly the foremost current threat to coral reefs,
> and must be addressed by the global community if reefs as we know them will
> have any chance to persist."  Williams et al, 2019, Frontiers in Marine
> Science
>
>

-- 
Douglas Fenner
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
NOAA Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Regional Office
Honolulu
and:
Consultant
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

"mitigating climate change is the critical wedge to set coral reefs on a
recovery trajectory"  Duarte et al 2020 Rebuilding marine life Nature

"Already, more people die  <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml>from
heat-related causes in the U.S. than from all other extreme weather events."


https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/624643780/phoenix-tries-to-reverse-its-silent-storm-of-heat-deaths


Even 50-year old climate models correctly predicted global warmng
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/even-50-year-old-climate-models-correctly-predicted-global-warming?utm_campaign=news_weekly_2019-12-06&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=3113276

"Global warming is manifestly the foremost current threat to coral reefs,
and must be addressed by the global community if reefs as we know them will
have any chance to persist."  Williams et al, 2019, Frontiers in Marine
Science