Coral reefs facing extinction

[MaMoL]

Article

Well this isn't really new news by any means. Generally, every article that I read about this topic always says the same thing; lower greenhouse gases and create targeted conservation efforts.

However, I always feel like these articles never leave readers with any action to take. So I was hoping to get a discussion going about what we (every day people like you and me) can do to help. Any thoughts?

[homegrowncorals]

Buy only tank raised fish , coral , ect. for our tanks and make our own live rock instead of importing it will help and trade frags with others

[GuitarMan89]

I know this may seem cliche, but start to be concerned with your carbon footprint. I posted a link a while back to a personal carbon footprint calculator a while back. For example, when purchasing a new car, think of better millage and lower emissions, keep lights off, purchase high efficiency heaters, air conditions and appliances when in the market. Oil only has a few more decades before it is depleted. It may not seem like an individual can make a difference, but we have to start somewhere. By lowering carbon output, the ocean, which is the biggest carbon sink, will have less to absorb. One of the reasons the reefs are dying is because of something many of us struggle ourselves to keep in control, alkalinity. As more carbon is present, the oceans ph is dropping, becoming more acidic, the details involve chemistry and carbonates, but i forget the exact equations. One of the immediate things we can do is to buy frags, and tank raised fish, but the long term issues are going to need more drastic changes.


(Don't mean to sound like a radical, just my own thoughts)

[GuitarMan89]

here is the link to the carbon footprint calculator if anyone is interested

Your own carbon footprint calculator

[geekdafied]

This isnt a very good topic because it gets political really quick. There are some people who do not believe in "global warming" scare tactics.

[geekdafied]

Heres a good example...

http://http://newsbusters.org/blogs/...nvenient-truth

Quotes from that site...

The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government's expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.
The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The Court found that the film was misleading: over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.
The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that it was "not possible" to attribute one-off events to global warming.
The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that this was not the case.
The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. It turned out that Mr Gore had misread the study: in fact four polar bears drowned and this was because of a particularly violent storm.
The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream throwing Europe into an ice age: the Claimant's evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.
The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.
The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.
The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.
The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7m causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40cm over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.
The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim.