[Coral-List] Bleaching

[David Obura]

Hmm ...

I haven’t been following these threads, so my apologies to all for being a selective responder, but scanning the beginning of Austen’s mail here, I’ll certainly put my word in.

Climate change has demonstrated this and revealed the more general case that it is not population growth (the masses) that are driving global impact - it is the overconsumption and its ‘great acceleration' in rich countries. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel energy use has made this abundantly clear and now there is excellent science coming out showing the same is true for other aspects of material use and waste. See https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/06/us-europe-behind-vast-majority-global-ecological-damage-study.

So the solutions for global impact problems (coral bleaching) are squarely in the global north. A lot of work is converging around reducing wealthy footprints by about 70% to stay within planetary boundaries while giving those with inadequate resources and a poor quality of life space to increase their fair share of the global footprint.

Overpopulation and consumption IS an immense problem locally in many locations in both south and north - as ecologists we of course understand this fundamentally … but its been a narrative spun from certain interests that has drawn a straight line from over-populated southern nations to decline in planetary health - that just isn’t the case.

My apologies again if I’m missing a lot of other nuances of the discussion - but the responses are just too long!!

All the best,

David


David Obura PhD, MBS
CORDIO East Africa, #9 Kibaki Flats, Kenyatta Beach, Bamburi Beach, P.O.BOX 10135 Mombasa 80101, Kenya
Email: dobura at cordioea.net  --  davidobura at gmail.com
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On 18 Apr 2022, 19:04 +0300, coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov, wrote:
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2022 10:07:33 +1200
> From: Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>
> To: Alina Szmant <alina at cisme-instruments.com>
> Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>, Bill Allison
> <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Bleaching
> Message-ID:
> <CAL0VXCXV1TCDgfy1itr_dNm-ntfZm_St4k05gQs8X8pcSujK6A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Alina,
>
> At this point, population control is like handing out condoms on the
> sinking Titanic! It will not solve the present urgent crisis, the ship is
> sinking not under the weight of the poor but under the weight of the rich.
> Over-consumption by those already in the population is driving the
> problem, not birth rate. The major carbon emitting nations- those most
> responsible, all have low birth rates. Blaming this crisis on high birth
> rates among poor nations side-steps the real problem. The developing world
> is NOT driving this crisis, they are the frontline victims.