[Coral-List] Bleaching

Tue Apr 12 18:50:59 UTC 2022

If the voters keep electing people who oppose taking action, real action to
fix the cause of the problem, as the UN Secretary-General was stating so
clearly, will not happen.  No small group of committed people working to
save reefs will make it happen unless voters elect representatives that
vote to take real action.  That's true in all democratic countries, I
think.  If a small, dedicated group can figure a way to get voters to do
that, that could make all the difference.  Easier said than done.  Many
voters don't want their governments spending more money and taxing them
more to get more money.  The costs of inaction are still off in the future
for most voters.  And there are other immediate pressing concerns, there
always will be.  There was a LOT of pressure at the last COP, more than in
previous ones, it seemed.  My vague memory is that polls in the US show
increasing concern in voters.  Those are good signs.

On Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 1:33 AM Bill Allison via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

>  "... reef restoration programs acting in concert provide a potent
> political opportunity to influence their national governments to support
> the UN-based global efforts to control greenhouse gases and other factors
> inimical to the survival of coral reefs."
> OR
> "reef restoration programs" masquerading as a solution provide a rationale
> for kicking the addressing-causes-can down the road.
> "cheers"
> Bill
>
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 6:59 AM John Ogden via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
> > Dear Friends on Coral-List,
> >
> > The good news that Austin Bowden-Kirby highlights in his recent post
> > concerns the global growth surge in reef restoration schemes and programs
> > and shows clearly that people care about coral reefs and are unwilling to
> > wait for government to act and watch them die without trying to do
> > something to help.  This kind of hands-on volunteerism is too rare and
> > important not to take full advantage of on the political stage.   In my
> > opinion Coral Gardeners and other reef restoration programs acting in
> > concert provide a potent political opportunity to influence their
> national
> > governments to support the UN-based global efforts to control greenhouse
> > gases and other factors inimical to the survival of coral reefs.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> On Behalf Of
> > Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List
> > Sent: Friday, April 8, 2022 8:21 PM
> > To: Risk, Michael <riskmj at mcmaster.ca>
> > Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Bleaching
> >
> > Dear friends on Coral List,
> >
> > As Michael mentioned, the approval this week of massive new offshore
> > drilling by Trudeau and the Canadian government amounts to planetary
> > treason.  The development is located on the ecologically sensitive and
> > vastly important Grand Banks, near the Northeast Newfoundland Slope
> Marine
> > Refuge.
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthenarwhal.ca%2Fbay-du-nord-newfoundland-approved%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=M4PhZbFEw3V7beubstWGbtV5w3wTdMh163ftss2PRbc%3D&reserved=0
> >
> > These sorts of decisions are the "lies and broken promises" spoken of
> just
> > a few days ago by UN Chief, Antonio Guterres
> >
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DP8rlLaT8v4Q&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=7sJhxRpWQK32vZVGgOndqBa4h8XgCMTDr4r4pjZpdNY%3D&reserved=0
> >
> > Horrific, but rather than getting depressed we need to get active!
> >
> > Whatever we have been doing, it is not enough!  Should we just do more of
> > the same, or is it time for a change of strategy?
> >
> > NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!
> > A group of youth from Moorea, French Polynesia, concerned by what they
> see
> > on their own reefs, and growing tired of waiting for their governments
> and
> > scientists to act, have created a youth-based activist movement "The
> Coral
> > Gardeners", with the goal of saving corals from extinction.
> >
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoralgardeners.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=ExJCm2Bx84R6ddtFTurMo6Orzo%2Bq6eDQpQnQANT4gWg%3D&reserved=0
> >
> > By looking at films and information on the internet, these young
> islanders
> > developed their own coral restoration methods, based on saving broken
> coral
> > fragments and growing them.  Not knowing how to apply for grants, they
> > created a web based donation and marketing campaign, which has raised
> > significant funds for them to expand.  In 2018, they wrote to me and
> asked
> > if they might come to Fiji for scientific training, but before that could
> > happen, the World Surf League paid my way to Moorea in 2019.  Other
> > restoration scientists like Dave Vaughn have also come in since to train
> > them. They are eager to learn and are receptive to new ideas.
> >
> > The Coral Gardener's vision of youth activism is now going global: they
> > are actively writing groups involved with community coral reef
> conservation
> > and coral restoration, proposing that they all come together to form a
> mass
> > youth activism movement to save coral reefs. They have asked for
> scientific
> > backup, and their team will arrive in Fiji soon to discuss strategies
> about
> > how to best cause a massive shift of youth activism at the local level to
> > save coral reefs.
> >
> > Friends, we have clearly run out of time. We are experiencing the
> > destructive forces of climate change invading coral reef systems, and in
> > only 3-4 decades we will clearly see the local and perhaps planetary
> > genocide of most species of corals.  The justification for breaking with
> > "traditional" means to save coral reefs is based on the failure of the
> > system to provide results- the scientific community is not doing enough!
> > If the traditional ways of operating will not save the coral reefs, then
> > it is time for us to get up off our butts and become activists, to come
> > back out of retirement, to resign from secure jobs, to donate our
> fortunes
> > sacrificially- anything and everything!
> >
> > Just look at what is at stake!  If we lose coral reefs, we lose the whole
> > world.  We hold in our hands the one system that is the most important in
> > stopping this insane human driven mass extinction event!
> >
> > For those of you on the list who still have hope for this world, we need
> > your support for this movement!
> > You can join and donate to Coral Gardeners via their website.
> >
> > Thanks and kind regards,
> >
> > Austin
> >
> > PS: more background as to the need for doing much more
> >
> > The frontline in the collapse of coral reefs is Kiribati, the most heat
> > impacted reefs on the planet, with 30 months of condition-two bleaching
> > temperatures over a 60 month period, and the mass death of >90% of
> corals.
> > Still there has been virtually no scientific or management response- no
> > battles, no defending armies, no troops, only a few isolated skirmishes,
> > and with minimal data from just 6 of 32 atolls, even six years after the
> > disaster.  This is the present reality on the leading edge of the
> > collapse!   There is no war!
> >
> > The only strategies to combat the predicted extinctions of coral species
> > that I know of are the Coral Bio Bank, and the 50 Reefs Initiative, both
> of
> > which are good initiatives, and commendable, but if that is all we do
> then
> > we are abandoning the front lines, where the lessons might be learned,
> > pulling back in retreat, and admitting defeat.  Doesn't this amount to
> > hiding in our bunkers and losing the war without firing a shot?    We
> have
> > been proposing for some time that what is missing is a well coordinated,
> > coral-focused war to combat the decline of corals due to warm water
> > bleaching, with generals and sergeants, well trained troops, war plans,
> > battle strategies, weapons, and ammunition.
> >
> > The really big, well funded efforts target land-based threats and
> > overfishing. This tells us that the majority of scientists and donor orgs
> > have not faced the facts: that pristine reefs with clean water and
> > abundant  fish populations, although that might help with recovery, have
> > been clearly and repeatedly shown to NOT be any more resistant to mass
> > coral death due to bleaching temperatures.  Can we please stop fooling
> > ourselves that this is enough? Otherwise, will we be satisfied with
> > coralline algae dominated reefs, or perhaps in some areas a phase-shift
> to
> > low biodiversity Porites reefs, with Acropora corals locally extinct and
> > with hundreds of associated species missing?
> >
> > Coral-focused scientific approaches that are comprehensive, coordinated,
> > well-funded, and scalable are now needed.  This is what we are working to
> > create.  Coral focused strategies must be adaptation based, not simply
> > restoration based, and the goal should be to secure the life of coral
> > species on reefs for another 30+ years, in spite of warming seas, giving
> > time for governments and society to hopefully defeat this enemy called
> > climate change.
> >
> > Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> > Corals for Conservation, Fiji
> >
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.corals4conservation.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=NnVrh88S0%2Furq7leLIVqGeBV4IfggoT0WnPErm%2FTtU4%3D&reserved=0
> >
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalgiving.org%2Fprojects%2Femergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=E7bAqwGnvQa9ahct6pqwwp5AdcIQMoREEddSLNjWRtU%3D&reserved=0
> > <
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalgiving.org%2Fprojects%2Femergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=E7bAqwGnvQa9ahct6pqwwp5AdcIQMoREEddSLNjWRtU%3D&reserved=0
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Apr 9, 2022 at 1:24 AM Risk, Michael via Coral-List <
> > coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > >    A sad day. The Canadian gov't, despite its brave words about
> > >    decarbonisation, to-day approved the massive Baie du Nord offshore
> > >    development for our East Coast.
> > >
> > >    Canada is one of the best-educated nations in the world. If we can't
> > >    get it together, what hope is there?
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________________________
> > >
> > >    From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf
> > of
> > >    Steve Mussman via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > >    Sent: Wednesday, April 6, 2022 3:53 PM
> > >    To: Eugene Shinn via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > >    Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Bleaching
> > >
> > >    Dear Gene,
> > >    Although it is increasingly difficult to remain optimistic, the
> > >    takeaway message should be clear. The sooner we can muster the
> > >    political will to reduce atmospheric CO2 the better. The debate
> should
> > >    have ended decades ago, but that is no excuse for complacency and/or
> > >    inaction.
> > >    [1]
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fhow-fast-can-we-stop-earth-from-warming-&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=nxluRizLRXn8ImGE%2F%2Fwc%2BGSqkBAROK%2Bmc9MSdnIlFDQ%3D&reserved=0
> > >    178295
> > >    Regards,
> > >    Steve
> > >    On 4/5/22, 12:49 PM, Eugene Shinn via Coral-List
> > >    <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> > >    Thanks Austin, I have become so used to broken promises by
> governmens
> > >    and businesses that it just bounces off. I recall many climate
> change
> > >    authors claiming that if all sources of Co2 were stopped today it
> > would
> > >    take about half a century for Co2 levels to drop to pre-industrial
> > >    levels. Reducing present levels in 8-years is not realistic. Gene
> > >    _______________________________________________
> > >    Coral-List mailing list
> > >    Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > >    [2]
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoral.aoml.noaa.gov%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fcoral-list&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=y7gybly%2Fnya4YqzXQt7nL1EJDCYY2KNrvyl5zaeAayk%3D&reserved=0
> > >    _______________________________________________
> > >    Coral-List mailing list
> > >    Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > >
> > > [3]https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fc
> > > oral.aoml.noaa.gov%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fcoral-list&data=04%7C01%
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> > > df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3
> > > d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7
> > > C3000&sdata=y7gybly%2Fnya4YqzXQt7nL1EJDCYY2KNrvyl5zaeAayk%3D&r
> > > eserved=0
> > >
> > > References
> > >
> > >    1.
> > >
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Fhow-fast-can-we-stop-earth-from-warming-178295&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=lwwxxsWJD2uRE3xw9dMxYN5R26df5EZeCNYS3zSKz94%3D&reserved=0
> > >    2.
> >
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoral.aoml.noaa.gov%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fcoral-list&data=04%7C01%7Cjogden%40usf.edu%7C31ca097bf9a144daba6208da1a12549b%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C637850963297105951%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=y7gybly%2Fnya4YqzXQt7nL1EJDCYY2KNrvyl5zaeAayk%3D&reserved=0
> > >    3.
> > > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcora
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> > > rved=0 _______________________________________________
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> >
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