Fifth of world's corals already dead, say experts
December 10, 2008
An environmental management specialist of the Batangas city fisheries office inspects a coral reef formation in the Verde sea passage south of Manila, Philippines, February 2007. Almost a fifth of the planet's coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday.
Almost a fifth of the planet's coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday.
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Waaaaiit, wait... waaaiiit for eeeit....
How was I supposed to know? Those kooks are always claiming the world is going to end.
Yes.
When CO2 disolves in water, it makes it more acidic. *MOST* of the CO2 we currently produce ends up getting absorbed by the ocean. This changes the pH to something that corals cannot deal with and thus they die. Keep in mind that corals are a sort of oceanic canary-in-a-mine. They die before other things because they are more sensitive, but serve as a warning.
If someone is lying dead in the street with a bullet hole in the chest you don't immeadiatly rule out gunshot wound as cause of death because he was in the street and might have been hit by a car. There is no logic to it.
I agree acidification of the ocean is bad for delicate marine life, but lets get the two by fours out of the way before we look for splinters.