[Coral-List] In regard to article about only 3 of Earth ecosystems are intact

Christopher Hawkins chwkins at yahoo.com
Sat May 8 00:35:18 UTC 2021


 Alina,
I think many of us see the elephant of anthro-centricity in the room. I certainly don't hear a lot of people in Western societies (and some in non-western societies) saying "Humans as a whole do in fact believe that plants and animals have intrinsic value and therefore don't need to have some sort of value to people to be conserved or preserved." I don't see that orientation going away, either. So I tend not to spend my time shouting at the rain, but rather trying to improve that "bogus" practice of resource management. In service of that objective, I again say that while folks can keep say all they want that "97% of the earth's ecosystems have been destroyed," it's not accurate. Even if it was, good luck trying to get people to believe it, given what they see every day. And getting people to believe it is important, because Alina Szmant cannot snap her fingers and make things the way she wants them to be. 
Chris 
  
    On Friday, May 7, 2021, 12:13:58 PM HST, Alina Szmant <alina at cisme-instruments.com> wrote:  
 
 
Chris:
 
  
 
You are obviously looking at this issue (as you look out your window) from the perspective of the human dominator of all things terrestrial, not from the perspective of the organisms and ecosystems that existed pre human agricultural period when we were part of the natural landscape in only a very few places on Earth and there were only maybe a few million of people world-wide. That IS the big problem. That IS the ‘elephant in the room”. The belief that Homo sapiens can do what it wills with the rest of the Earth. Resource management is a bogus field. It just tries to slow down, not stop or reverse, the destruction of anything not economically beneficial to the wealthier portion of humankind or needed to keep alive the hordes of disadvantaged (i.e. poor and hungry) people in overpopulated areas.
 
  
 
Alina Szmant
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
*************************************************************************
 
Dr. Alina M. Szmant, CEO
 
CISME Instruments LLC
 
210 Braxlo Lane,
 
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
 
AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee
 
cell:910-200-3913
 
EMAIL:alina at cisme-instruments.com
 
Website: www.cisme-instruments.com
 
  
 
CISME IS NOW SOLD BY QUBIT SYSTEMS;https://qubitbiology.com/cisme/
 
  
 

 
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From: Christopher Hawkins <chwkins at yahoo.com> 
Sent: Friday, May 7, 2021 6:07 PM
To: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov; Alina Szmant <alina at cisme-instruments.com>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] In regard to article about only 3 of Earth ecosystems are intact
 
  
 
All,
 
  
 
Headlines like "Humans have destroyed 97% of earth's ecosystems" do us all such a disfavor, because for so many people (the same people we are trying to convince there is a legitimate problem), it simply does not jive with what they see day-to-day. The absolute destruction narrative doesn't compute if the view out your classroom or office window is miles and miles of intact or restored pine forest (for example).   
 
  
 
While most of the planet's ecosystems obviously do not function in the way they did several millennia ago, many them are none-the-less providing levels of services that are more or less acceptable to the societies that live in them. Regardless if it makes some among us uncomfortable, the question for resource managers in a democracy is "what ecosystem(s) does society want, with what costs and trade-offs?"  
 
  
 
All of this is to say that even if we feel differently than the public at-large about an ecosystem's objective condition, sensationalism cheapens our message and makes our task all the more difficult. Because - it's those same people we are trying to convince about the need for (and to abide by) various rules and regulations and to fund all of our work via their taxpayer dollars.
 
  
 
Best,
 
Chris
 
  
 
  
 
On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, 07:01:27 AM HST, Alina Szmant via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote: 
 
  
 
  
 
Doug: 
 
  
 
I took a look at to me the most alarming of the articles you shared which some Listers might overlook so I want to point it out:
 
  
 
"Humans have destroyed 97% of earth's ecosystems (well, more like only 3% are fully intact)https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB1fH7DT?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare"
 
  
 
This is all about human overpopulation changing terrestrial ecosystems to accommodate more and more people. Cutting down trees for urban and agricultural development; diverting water for human consumption and agriculture and industry; changing the hydrological cycle by changes in land use; etc etc etc. This is aside from any fossil fuel related issues. If all of our energy was from renewables but we continue to increase in numbers and destroy the Earth ecosystems in our wake, the Earth is still destroyed without even one more molecule of greenhouse gas added to our atmosphere.
 
  
 
Regards,
 
  
 
Alina
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
*************************************************************************
 
Dr. Alina M. Szmant, CEO
 
CISME Instruments LLC
 
210 Braxlo Lane,
 
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
 
AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee
 
cell: 910-200-3913
 
EMAIL:alina at cisme-instruments.com
 
Website: www.cisme-instruments.com
 
  
 
CISME IS NOW SOLD BY QUBIT SYSTEMS;https://qubitbiology.com/cisme/
 
  
 
  
 
**********************************************************
 
Videos:  CISME Promotional Video 5:43 min  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAYeR9qX71A&t=6s
 
CISME Short version Demo Video 3:00 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa4SqS7yC08
 
CISME Cucalorus 10x10 Sketch   4:03 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12sAV8oUluE
 
  
 
  
 
-----Original Message-----
 
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> On Behalf Of Douglas Fenner via Coral-List
 
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2021 3:54 AM
 
To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
 
Subject: [Coral-List] Watching a pristine reef be killed
 
  
 
Watching a coral reef die as climate change devastates one of the most pristine tropical island areas on earth.
 
  
 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/watching-a-coral-reef-die-as-climate-change-devastates-one-of-the-most-pristine-tropical-island-areas-on-earth/ar-BB1gbsJH
 
  
 
Doug
 
  
 
--
 
Douglas Fenner
 
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
 
NOAA Fisheries Service
 
Pacific Islands Regional Office
 
Honolulu
 
and:
 
Coral Reef Consulting
 
PO Box 997390
 
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA
 
  
 
Slashing emissions by 2050 isn't enough.  We can bring down temperature now.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/climate-deadlines-super-pollutants-hfcs-methane/2021/04/15/acb8c612-9d7d-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html
 
  
 
Humans have destroyed 97% of earth's ecosystems (well, more like only 3% are fully intact)https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB1fH7DT?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
 
  
 
Study: One-third of plant and animal species could be gone in 50 years.
 
(but 2-4 times worse in tropics)
 
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/uoa-soo021220.php
 
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/4211
 
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