So Hawaii's coral reefs are in
danger because of an oceanic heat wave. That is to say, from global warming. Marine
heat waves and climate change are less covered topics, compared to land-borne problems. Our seas - and the life within them - are not only at risk. We are losing them.
The Caribbean's corals are dying from a
disease...
About half the coral species that make up Florida’s reef tracts and
about a third of those throughout the Caribbean are vulnerable to the
disease, at a time when the delicate ecosystems are already threatened
by climate change....
But the federal budget to protect
coral reefs has been largely unchanged for years, and that's left coral
science in the "Middle Ages," said coral scientist William Precht.
The
disease is likely the deadliest for coral since so-called white-band
disease emerged in the 1970s, almost wiping out two kinds of coral, he
said.
“Now, we’re looking at a similar type of disease, but instead of affecting two species, it hits 22,” said Precht.
“The end result could be catastrophic.”
This while the Republican Party and even Donald Trump himself denigrate climate science, caps on greenhouse gas emissions, and even young emissaries like Greta Thunberg.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate
Action Summit in New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of
Thunberg's speech, beginning with her response to a question about the
message she has for world leaders.
"My message is that we'll be watching you.
"This
is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the
other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope.
How dare you!
"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with
your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are
suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in
the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money
and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!
"For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How
dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing
enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in
sight.
"You say you hear us and that you understand the
urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe
that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on
failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.
"The
popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us
a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of
setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.
"Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers
do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming
hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate
justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of
tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.
"So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.
"To
have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature
rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan.
1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.
"How
dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual'
and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that
remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.
"There
will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures
here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are
still not mature enough to tell it like it is.
"
You are failing
us. But
the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The
eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail
us, I say: We will never forgive you.
"We will not let you get
away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The
world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
"Thank you.".
