Watch 'Soylent Green' for that answer.

We are killing the planet.

BooCoo DaBreeze

When the oceans die, it will be the end of life as we know it on planet Earth.

That's right. One broken tooth in a cog or one burned out semiconductor will cause the most elaborate machine to stop.

Heck of a job, anti-science and anti-Modern, Party of No.

We're completely fuc$#d. I'm glad I have no kids to pass this dying planet off to. I'd dread looking them in the eye one day and explaining to them that people just didn't give a @!$%#. Sorry kid. Suck it up.

I saw a documentary on this about five years ago. I was hoping we would do something, then, to address it. Apparently, not.

Let's face it, folks. It's not a priority and our governnments won't give a rat's butt --- until it's too late.

Nothing is going to change until Mother Nature revolts and kills off the parasites that are attacking her,

Mankind.

When I was diving in the Florida Keys 30 years ago, they were fairly healthy, today it is truly a sad site to see. The brain coral is so full of cancer that's its almost gone.

It's pollution that is destroying the oceans of the world but as long as a buck can be made trashing them, corporations and people just don't care.....

We keep telling the deniers to wake up, but the teabaggers are determined to ruin not only our political system, but the entire planet.

They can be identified by having their radios tuned to Clear Channel (a BAIN owned company - ROMNEY!), getting their daily indoctrination. It is so much easier to just copy King Rush instead of thinking for yourself.

Yup.

Good for Bush putting solar on the White House. But if Reagan hadn't pulled Carter's panels and cut his research programs we would be leading the world in solar today. How many more jobs and how much less oil imports would that have meant?

You guys are soooooooo misinformed.. it is pathetic:

Bush preserve the largest "water area ever":

//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13300363/ns/us_news-environment/t/bush-creates-worlds-biggest-ocean-preserve/#.UGoe8K5CaM0

The "Great Barier Reef is NOT under USA Jurisdiction:

//www.lenzell.com/gbr_facts.htm

Despite this the USA leads the preservation effort by UNESCO who oversees conservation efforts:

//unesco.usmission.gov/

Now I do know that politics are involved since the OBAMA administration recently cut funding:

//www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/unesco-votes-to-admit-palestine-over-us-objections/2011/10/31/gIQAMleYZM_story.html

So please all of you "climate change", anti Bush, drinking the left koolaid because it's "Bush's Fault"... find another blog and try again.

Oh.. almost forgot the nail the "I'm educated enough about GW" crowd Though the reefs are "endangered" (and mind you I'm about preservation but there is more to the story than this article:

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/06/156289552/dead-reefs-can-come-back-to-life-study-says

"We jammed 17-foot-long irrigation pipes down into the reef and pulled out a history, a section of the reef, that told us what the ups and downs of the reef had been," Aronson says.

It turns out that this 6,000-year-old reef hadn't simply been growing steadily throughout its history. In fact, the reef had actually died off for quite some time.

"These reefs were shut down for 2,500 years," Aronson says, "and the reefs have only been living for 6,000 years, so that represents about 40 percent of their entire history. So that's really shocking."

So This creationist, Christian who (evidently) actually pays attention and stay awake for ALL science whether it fits my views are not, will leave you all to your.. (ahem) Liberal education... tell me when you guys REALLY learn something.

"I deeply believe in God... I believe in deep science... there is no conflict."-Flame.

I (we) are the problem. My car is old. I drive too far to work. My house is too large, with old drafty windows and inefficient heating. I don't walk enough. I have too much stuff. I tend to blame the others for global change or maybe I just think that's all crap. I fail to look ahead to my grand-child's future. I'm leaving a larger footprint than my neighbor is. I am the problem but I am able to change my ways.

While they are killing the sharks, why don't they see what they can do to destroy the reef too. Maybe they could blow it up, poison the water, or drag fishing trawlers over it until it is gone.

Steve Irwin would approve of this message.

Coral is the source of oxygen we rely on most for the earth's atmosphere. Of course, don't tell a Republican that because he hasn't learned anything new since he was a cave man hunting dinosaurs... 6000 years ago. Republicans believe that God creates the oxygen so we can never run out. THAT is our problem. Myth versus reality... and for some reason myth wins every time because of ignorance and laziness of people who refuse to learn facts. (and yes I was being sarcastic about cave men, dinosaurs and the ignorant Christian insistance that the earth is only 6000 yrs old)

ll bull @!$%#, radical environmentalists would have you believe the Earth has never fluctuated until low and behold mankind began pulling itself up out of squalor ! These radical authoritarians will be rich and affluent even if and when we allow them to regress the average human back to the early 1800s, do not believe lies, deceit, and ridicule that "global socialists " put out! Environmentalism is just one of many areas the global socialists have trumped up to hopefully enlist the backing of the planets illiterate and nonproductive sectors, in exchange for calls for global redistribution of wealth!

The headline picture of the bleached reefs is an excellent metaphor for all the brainwashed minds on the right side of the political spectrum. Mitt Romney knows global warming is a man made problem and has stated so many times in the past. He had to turn into a denier to have any chance of getting the vote of the idiot tea bagging fools whose vote he needs. The anti science group of Americans is not just embarrassing, it's killing my daughters planet! Legal Texanlegal, you are a Poster BOY.

@ 0123456789 - Why is it that the Republican argument is always "But there is an exception to the rule and how do you know that this is not an exception to the rule"? Right wingers and more directly, fundamentalist Christians, keep on pointing out exceptions to every rule as a reason not to believe anything or to believe the most harmful negative things. Even their religion is based on the idea that this great MAYBE the Bible really was written by someone who knew Jesus when we all know that is impossible. Everything they say is a huge exception to everything we accept as reality. I'm amazed they believe the world is round. Only took them about 1000 years to admit they were wrong about that. Now we are supposed to believe that the coral reef is going to miraculously recover by itself by believing in the Republican theory that "Exceptions are the rule". Let's face it... they are simply the party of denial, ignorance and mythology. You'll never get them to educate themselves because that is too scary. Reality isn't something they are strong enough to face.

Keep on dreaming 0123456789... the word exception has a definition... look it up and see what the odds of this coral thing being an exception and self-correcting actually has of ever happening. About the odds of you ever being right about anything in your life.

This article stated - The researchers estimated that tropical storms, coral predation by crown-of-thorns starfish and coral bleaching accounted for 48 percent, 42 percent and 10 percent of the respective estimated loss in coral cover...

The vast majority of the damage was caused by sediment covering the coral and chemicals from the farming/mining operations in Australia. The flooding events of last year only made this much worse..

The Australian Government admitted that 80% of the flooding was caused by the mismanagement of their flood control assets and the lack of enforcment of building regulations. Thai allowed the development of known flood areas and destruction of trees/vegitation that naturally control sediment run-off...

Similar to the problems that have effected the Florida coast in the USA and the Gulf of Thailand...

1. "The Queensland floods are caused by what is one of the strongest – if not the strongest – La Niña events since our records beganin the late 19th century," said Prof Neville Nicholls at Monash University and president of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.

"The extent to which any of this – the floods, warm oceans, or very strong La Niña – is linked to global warming is unknown, because the requisite studies to test this have simply not been done yet," said Nicholls.

2. "This is one of the strongest La Niña events in the past half century," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Impacts include heavy rains and flooding, which has damaged crops and flooded mines in Australia and Asia. It also has resulted in flooding in northern South America and drought conditions in Argentina. This powerful little lady is spreading her curses and blessings across the planet. She's the real deal."

3. NASA tried to develop a study of the tropical weather patterns in Asia, but was blocked by Thailand Nationalist & Thai Democrats, this summer. They were concerned of the use of U Tapao Military base and other than just scientific studies that were going to occur. http://storify.com/LinkAsiaNews/climate-science-or-espionage-thai-parliament-block

I'd say it's algae.

@ Legal Texanlegal - Regress to the 1800s? You are describing yourself. You are the one who is mentally challenged beyond the point of being able to keep up with scientific facts. What if we all did what you do? You are the kind of person who upon hearing that Galileo's theory that the world is round is correct says that all science is a fake and phony now because science once thought the world was flat and was proven wrong. It's ignorant people like you who don't realize that the entire concept of science is to keep growing our knowledge of things. Only a dullard with a very low intelligence says "Duh well you've been wrong about some stuff so that means you are never right about anything". The thing that just irks me the most about your type is you will say all sorts of ignorant things about science then you RUN and BEG science to save your life with all the things you claim to not believe in when you find out you have cancer or some other critical medical problem. All of a sudden all that science is a nice thing to have around and save your life with. But even while you use science that you despise every day... Including typing on a computer brought to you by the science you hate so much... you will still spout off your mouth to rail against education and science by calling us all nasty names for being more educated than you are. YOU are the one pretending this is the 1800s where we can't believe in those evil scientists and their newfangled theories. That is YOU and you are a hypocrite.

"Coral is the source of oxygen we rely on most for the earth's atmosphere. Of course, don't tell a Republican that "

Really???? More than the rainforests?? Don't tell a republican that because he or she probably has a much better grasp on science than you do.

Dumb.

Flame - any creationist calling other people misinformed is nothing but a joke.

@ TheDman113 - had you kept up with recent scientific discoveries you would know that they ruled out vegetation as being an adequate explanation for the amount of oxygen we have and in fact their contribution is not as significant as once suspected. Had you kept up with recent findings you would have found out that every coral polyp spits out a bubble of oxygen every so often and there are so many of them that it is now known to be the true source of the vast majority of oxygen on the planet. The problem is you don't keep up when science corrects itself. Then you blame people who do keep up and say WE are the problem.

What's your source on this?

i"ve been their,its highly overrated.

Actually the oxygen produced is a product of photosynthesis that simply includes the coral. Why not just Google it up and learn something. You will find out that vegetation comes in a distance second to the sea as a source of our oxygen. I'm not as eloquent at explaining it as the scientists who do that for a living are.

I did Google it up. All I found was people asking whether or not coral produced oxygen, and others replying no. So again, give me your source on this.

Coral is the source of oxygen we rely on most for the earth's atmosphere. Of course, don't tell a Republican that because he hasn't learned anything new since he was a cave man hunting dinosaurs... 6000 years ago. Republicans believe that God creates the oxygen so we can never run out. THAT is our problem. Myth versus reality... and for some reason myth wins every time because of ignorance and laziness of people who refuse to learn facts.

Vexxa,

You are the crown jewel, the poster child of all progressives. Thank you for demonstrating for everyone here what we're dealing with and why debating with progressives is a lost cause. No group of people in modern history has ever been more ignorant of how the world works and the math/cost behind anything than progressives.

You people complain about how high the unemployment rate is, but what sane employer would be that screwed up in the head enough to hire someone as clueless as you? If you are that dumb as to think coral is the majority source of oxygen on this planet (not to mention your other nonsense), what else do you believe? You must think Elvis is still alive too.

Please do this country a favor, take your progressive friends and move out of this country. May I suggest Greece.

I guarantee you my carbon footprint is light years below the average progressive. I have my own business so I never have to commute and I make all my employees telecommute, I have NO kids, NO pets (yes pets have a big footprint themselves when you factor in everything you buy for them). Those three things alone mean I have most progressives beat by a mile while simultaneously contributing a ton more in economic growth than the avg progressive (I staff US-based call centers, that means getting thousands of people jobs).

So until any of you can manage to get the majority of your cancerous progressive friends to be below my footprint AND contribute at least half as much as I do to the economy, get off the rhetoric. You guys are so embarrassing with your contradictions it's sickening.

I challenged BigAl Las Vegas (since I live in Vegas) to have me come sit with him for a day. See what his lifestyle is like. Show how he wastes money and resources and plans poorly. Show how his progressive ways are the root of all his problems in life, not corporations or the GOP, and he totally fell silent. Didn't take the challenge. Disappeared off the thread.

Typical. You guys are all rebels without a clue. You complain about the global temperatures, have you ever considered it could be all the collective hot air you guys are generating?

Robert Frouin, a research meteorologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, said understanding the process by which phytoplankton obtains ocean nutrients is important to understanding the link between the ocean and global climate.

Phytoplankton need two things for photosynthesis and thus their survival: energy from the sun and nutrients from the water. Phytoplankton absorb both across their cell walls.

In the process of photosynthesis, phytoplankton release oxygen into the water. Half of the world's oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis. The other half is produced via photosynthesis on land by trees, shrubs, grasses, and other plants.

reference - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0607_040607_phytoplankton.html

But then you have the climate engineers that want to shade the earth...

BTY - Old growth forest are NEUTRAL when it comes to Oxygen or CO2 production, unless we cut it all down for logging...

A very basic explanation of how coral is responsible for oxygen production is here

Had you kept up with National Geographic channel you'd have learned these things. That during photosynthesis of phytoplankton more oxygen is produced than a coral polyp can actually use and it releases it in a tiny bubble. While conservative estimates are that these phytoplankton are responsible for half of the world's oxygen there is the entire question of dead coral bodies decaying on the ocean floor that release oxygen and a huge debate over how prevalent coral is as well as the whole factor that phytoplankton produce oxygen in many other ways in the ocean. All in all... it means the sea is the source of most of the air you are breathing right now... not the plants. You can also read about the fact that the level of photosynthesis in trees is much lower in oxygen production than was recently thought to be. Most of the oxygen made on land comes from bacteria and algae... the latter is dependent on water purity and water quality to survive so that simply supports those in favor of clean water and ecologically sound living.

Well I had other links but this stupid thing removes them unless you use the link tool so I didn't have time in edit mode to replace them. I'll look them up again for you slow ppl.

vglance - what we are dealing with is a brand of antisocial narcissists who can't keep up in the world of science and refuses to watch anything or learn anything that disturbs your little insulated bubble of denial. In fact, my IQ is 165 and the average American IQ hovers around 100. I've worked as executive assistant to top executives on the largest offshore drilling project in the world. I've spoken with the scientists first hand who do the research and publish the papers. If you don't think the government isn't putting pressure on these offshore oil companies to answer questions about how they are going to protect reefs then you are imbeciles. I think I'll take the word of the top scientists in the field any day over you armchair idiots whose favorite hobby in life is finding things to hate about other people in a pathetic attempt to ignore what's going on in your world. If you spent half as much time watching educational cable shows on National Geographic channel, Discovery channel or Science channel... you'd know that you are the ones sounding as stupid as a sack of hammers.

And I've tried posting links and they show up then are removed... so stop being lazy and Google "where does oxygen come from" or "coral reefs produce oxygen"

Vexxa,

The easiest way to supply references is - copy & paste them below your information...

Make the readers - READ your sources...

Links are a pain and only help the lazy users...

Yeah that is what I did AC Robertson... I copy / paste and the links got removed when I published. Then I used the link tool to try to add them and it seemed to work, but they disappeared when I refreshed the page... like my comment had been altered /moderated to remove my source. These lazy people should just look it up anyway. It's everywhere. National Geographic articles on the subject are easy to find too. They just don't like it that I'm right. It's easier to insult me, deny the truth and live in their bubble of denial and ignorance than it is to admit they are wrong about something. I can admit I am wrong. I admit it's not actually the coral that produces the oxygen but the phytoplankton the coral has growing inside it in a symbiotic relationship to make it's food that produces more oxygen than the coral can use. These phytoplanktons are in many other creatures doing the same thing. Its just coral is the most prevalent living creatures in the ocean that do this symbiotic process so the result is massive. That is why I made the statement that coral makes oxygen. It's an easier way of reaching the people who don't understand words like symbiosis and phytoplankton. Unlike the conservatives and their purposeful reinvention of reality so that people never advance in their thinking.

Vexxa,

I have been told that new people to the Vine can not post references. But you have been here for over a year...

A few months ago, someone stated, that people that have not posted articles or a Bio, were having trouble posting refs...

Maybe we can entice a moderator to enlighten us of the rules or any changes that are causing this???

You guys are victims of the classic psuedo-science cult-like bullcrap that permeates the internet. You ever see a map of the entire world's population of coral reefs? It's not the coral reefs producing the oxygen, it's impossible for such a small amount of the earth's coverage to make up the majority of the world's production of oxygen. It's from bacteria/algae/oceanic plant life as a whole in the ocean that is projected to make up half or more of the world's production of oxygen through photosynthesis. The actual percentage is up for debate, but if you generated a map of all of those things in the ocean, it would basically cover the entire planet wherever there is water. I can't even believe I'm having to explain this. This is stuff a 5th grader learns. Vexxa, you can site any website you want. You are no different than the gullible lunatics that believe in 'free energy' and all those other conspiracies. Coral reefs... unbelievable. Ayn Rand said it best, "reason cannot be conquered."

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria, they remove Oxygen and give-off CO2...

The coral polyps have a symbiotic relationship with the single-celled algae called Zooxanthellae, which they store in their inner most layer. They function as solar cells. They convert the energy of the sun by means of photosynthesis into chemical energy and produce nutrients like sugar, fat, and oxygen for the coral polyps. The oxygen is needed by the coral animals to breathe. The carbon monoxide necessary as well exists in soluble form in the marine waters. The algae need nitrogen and phosphate to be able to carry out the photosynthesis. Both are available from metabolic processes of the coral polyps. Thus both organisms benefit from the symbiosis partner...

Coral itself produces ZERO atmospheric Oxygen...

As I stated prior, 50% of the atmospheric Oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis...

Flamm77-7

So what are you saying? The coral isn't really dying? It doesn't really matter the coral is dying? You don't care if the coral is dying? You don't believe the coral is dying? You know the reason but you're not telling? You don't know the reason but you know it's not caused by humans? It's too expensive to fix so you don't care? Saving the planet is just a funny punch line?

The world is so sick , when money comes before the well being of the planet

Can we find some use for those nasty starfish? Sell them to the Chinese as a delicacy or an aphrodisiac?

SaneAmerican:

"So why don't you put your ipod/ipad down, strip down to no clothes and live off the earth peacefully and in harmony with mother gia"

NO! Why don't you take your GOP SOCIALISM and put it where the sun don't shine. You SOCIALIZE RISK - like the risk to the PLANET - and then PRIVATIZE THE PROFITS. I say that EVERY RICH JERK pay 99% of his ILL GOTTEN GAINS in TAXES to help pay for 5this degradation. If they don't they just prove they are SOCIALISTS of the MOST DISGUSTING KIND - the kind that SOCIALIZE RISK AND PRIVATIZE PROFITS.

If YOU want to DESTROY A PLANET so a FEW CAN GET FILTHY RICH, find another planet, THIS ONE IS MINE!

We are killing the planet.

NO WE ARE NOT. The planet is NOT alive. The planet couldn't care less! Did the planet weep when the dinosaurs died out? Nope, it kept going, we are NOT killing the planet, even saying so is foolish.

What we ARE doing is rendering the planet unfit for human habitation. Continuing to bemoan the 'death of Earth' is ridiculous, and you do yourself and your cause no favors by perpetuating it.

Please do this country a favor, take your progressive friends and move out of this country.

And this silliness is no better. Noone's leaving.

SRS-798254,

I love seeing how you get so emotionally hijacked, so angry... your breath shortens, your pulse quickens, your temperature rises... the stress... It pleases me to know it will impact your health negatively and you won't be on this planet long to poison others with your hate.

You point the finger at the GOP for polluting this planet. As if you're not guilty yourself. Your bias is so pathetically sad it's disturbing.

What's worse is that you are so sure of your paradigm, that nothing anyone says is going to wake you up.

I'll give you a simple example. More than one single thing you can point to, humans by their very existence (seriously because who lives in a Tee Pee with no electricity anymore) are more destructive to the environment than anything else. And last I checked people who are members of the GOP, which is only about 30% of this country, are not the only ones having babies.

My uncle is a democrat. His three children are democrats. They are pumping out grandchildren faster than I can keep track. We have at least six, honestly I'm 3000 miles away so I stopped counting. Every couple of months I get a new baby card.

EVERYONE is to blame if they're having kids. Period. Everyone is to blame if they use electricity. Period.

For you to tie GOP to massive corporations polluting like a Dr. Sues book is the most retarded thing you can do.

Small business makes up the majority of our economy and they are far worse at polluting than big business. Why? Because small business flies under the radar. When GM has to discard their expired Chevy Volt batteries, they have to go through a third party recycling company because regulators are watching. When a shopkeeper tosses their expired batteries in the dumpster out back, no one is watching. Multiply that shopkeeper with hundreds of thousands of shopkeepers around the country, and it's worse, FAR worse.

You and your progressive lunatic friends need to learn how the world works. Until you do, spitting all your vile rhetoric to anyone weak-minded enough to believe it, you're just a terrorist destroying this country with the worst form of pollution: ignorance.

vglance - you just seem like one ANGRY individual. Have a bong hit and calm down, you deserve it!

Nice try to flip it. I call someone out to be angry, which is obvious by his caps and rambling nonsense, and you try to paint me as angry. Just like Nancy Pelosi failed miserably in her campaign to paint the Tea Party as a violent, dangerous mob, meanwhile the OCW protest rallies are where you wouldn't take your kids.

Typical propaganda tactic and further proof you are on the wrong side of what's best for this country.

The fact that you would come to the defense of someone as low as him speaks volumes about your character.

you try to paint me as angry

I don't have to paint a thing, you're the one with the brush:

It pleases me to know it will impact your health negatively

Your bias is so pathetically sad it's disturbing.

They are pumping out grandchildren faster than I can keep track.

you and your progressive lunatic friends

you're just a terrorist destroying this country

The fact that you would come to the defense of someone as low as him speaks volumes about your character.

Haven't even read what the person said whose health you are enjoying fail. Don't have to. Seriously, a bong hit and a beer. THEN you can worry about everyone else's character.

You fail at lying just like your failure to interpret my level of calm. Your post was directly below his, you read it. Typical Fred, bringing checkers pieces to a chess match. I mean seriously, you got evil in your name. It's not like I have to do any convincing of who is on what side.

Over 50% of the Earth's oxygen comes from the ocean, but not directly from corals, which are animals and consume oxygen.

That share of oxygen comes from phytoplankton, the plankton part of that name name basically meaning free-floating. In other words, not the symbiotic algae living a non-free floating sedentary life within a coral.

As always, that real world is a bit more complicated. There are algae, which , living within coral communities. They are very important, and very temperature sensitive. They provide nutrients to the coral at the same time that they receive other nutrients from the coral. The provide the color to the coral. And when the temperature rises, they die back, leaving the coral bleached. In itself, the bleaching does not kill the coral, but the absence of the nutrients provided by the symbiotic algae does eventually kill the coral.

Do we know everything? No>

But we do know:

Free flowing phytoplankton in the middle of the very deep oceans where there are no coral produce a majority of the oxygen for the planet. Hence, don't pollute the ocean.

Symbiotic algae living in the bodies of shallow water corals (and all coral are because they need a substrate, and shallow water) are very important to the survival of corals. And without the survival of corals, this planet loses one of the most productive food resources we have. Hence, preserve the oceans.

Ahhh, a majority of the damage that is man made has come from Australia. This isnt even a global warming thing. We dont need to turn every environmental discussion into that useless debate.

You fail at lying

Yea, I'm guessing that direct quotes of you are certain to be false, huh?

I mean seriously, you got evil in your name.

It's like you consider that a serious point..... LOL

And how many solar panels do you own? Is there a Leaf in your driveway? 80% of pollution is by individuals, does government need to put a gun to your head and make you buy solar?

Yes...

24 210 watt panels

2011 Nissan Leaf

Eat very little meat

Recycle everything

Work from home

Buy local and organic

Betcha feel real superior and above all the riff-raff, dontcha?

Rex---Nope. Just doing my part. And what are you doing to help our dying planet?

mmmm my Workingman-1110535 I almost feel like I'm falling short:

I give to charity

Help my fellowman when ever I can

Served 20 yrs in the armed forces

Work making eye-ware for our brave men and women of the armed forces

raised fosters kids, 4 of my kids (who now have me grandkids :0 )

Serving Christ, attend my local Church.... (but hey I would like a leaf... heh)

Rex-1306908,

Betcha feel real superior and above all the riff-raff, dontcha?

He wasn't bragging, he was answering the question. There was nothing "superior" about the tone of his comment.

Is it you who feels inferior on this subject maybe? We should celebrate people who are doing their part to conserve and encourage others to do so!

Not all of us can afford an electric vehicle (yet), or solar panel installation (yet), but we can all do our part.

We examine with a magnifying glass without looking at the big picture. Earth is OLD. She can handle any and everything that comes her way. Mankind is a small fleck of dust. We give way too much credit to ourselves. 4.6 Byr is a long time people. We've been here perhaps 1M years (.02%). We are nothing she cant deal with. When we kill ourselves off or at least prune back to a few hundred million, the oceans will recover in 50 years.

Don't you mean what are starfish doing to our planet?

Yes, Abe, but some of us would like to avoid as much human suffering as possible in the meantime.

Valhalla Phil - Ummm yeah... I can't afford solar panels. My husband and I would love to go solar but it's just WAY out of our reach. Rather than buy a new car we moved extremely close to my husband's job, he brings home groceries, etc on the way home from work & we stopped about 95% of our driving altogether by staying home & enjoying what we pay for... yard and house. If everyone just started enjoying home life, live near your work, and only drove when absolutely necessary we wouldn't have the problems we have now. No one wants to give up this oppulent lifestyle and live like the people they see on TV shows.

TheDman113 - here you go again pretending like there is no circle of life and pretending you have no responsibility to others or yourself because you claim you are disconnected from the wheel of life. Garbage in = Garbage out... mantra of your life.

Flame - I only wish 'serving Christ" meant doing what Jesus told you to do. If Christians did that we'd have no problems in this country.

Cobra - had you paid attention when you were learning all that "science" you think you know so well about global changes... there always is a catalyst that causes the changes. Yes... Everything is natural. Man polluting the world is natural because all animals and the output of their life on the planet is natural. In fact... man's extinction by choking himself in his own waste will be natural. That doesn't mean mankind isn't reeking havoc on the life cycle we rely on. Your logic is severely flawed in thinking that just because everything is natural and the planet has had natural changes before that trashing our life cycle by being irresponsible where we excrete our wastes has nothing to do with the changes in the planet we are seeing. When an animal fouls it's environment with it's wastes it will die. Get an aquarium and fail to clean it and you learn that much. What you are saying is that magic cleans the fish tank by itself.

Well, last year an announcement was made that one of the turtle species in the Galapogos went extinct. We know the artic ice has melted to pre-historic levels, the permafrost is melting and releasing methane which is many times worse than carbon as a greenhouse gas. National Geo latest mag shows the massive assault on the elephants so the Chinese can have ivory nicknacks for their trophy shelves. Eco-tourists are pumping incredible amounts of carbon in the air to get to places like the barrier reef, antartica and the Galapogos. No body wants to take a sailing ship there which is the only sensible way to eco-travel. Americans seem to have to travel a thousand of miles every time they have a 3 day weekend or several thousand miles when they have a 10 day vacay. Immigrants to the US, fill dozens of jumbo jets everyday and fly back to see the home folks for a 2 week to 4 week vacay and return to make more $$ - remember when people immigrated and stayed in the their new home country ? Europeans go to Thailand for the beaches. Japanese go to Hawaii ! There are monster sized homes on the coal fired grid. They have 4 AC units chilling rooms nobody - not even the cat - goes into for a month. They have a second home in the mountains or at the beach. Every weekend several million Americans travel hundreds or thousands of miles to watch a football game when their team is "away". We waste the crap out of fuel, fill the air with carbon, then get all teary eyed when we see a video of a polar bear drowning in the ocean or the bleaching of a reef. When done crying, get on another plane for another trip that is not necessary. Talked to a guy from Florida who went to a "greenie" conference in San Francisco. Asked him why they didn't do an eco-friendly web conference instead of burning tons of fuel. He said they "talked about that" ! Bottom line is: it's fun to waste fuel and have a frivolous good time. The US has 5% of the world's population and burns 25% of the fuel ! The rest of the world wants to be like us ! Poor animals don't have a chance.

Dr soos, cant you see these megalomaniacs have co-opted dozens of different causes to help drum up support from two ends of the spectrum , the other megalomaniacs like you they recruit by letting your superiority complex drag you in, and the non productive bums of the world , they buy off with promises of redistributed wealth! What willing slaves!!!

Dr. Soos - Sarcasm is wasted on paranoid delusionals. What a pity. Well, I LOL'd at your comment if it's any consolation.

Says the paranoid delusional. Not everything is as black and white. Most people disagree with littering or droping slug in the waters. We stoped the holes in the Ozone layer and have focused many times on the Earty. The reefs have very little to do with you driving your car.

um -

All of it. They missed the whole "dead ocean = dead planet" thing. Bunch of hippie freaks.

We were right, and we are living through it right now. It doesn't matter that they think, because they aren't capable of even recognizing the problem. Leave them behind and let's see if we can stop/reverse the devastation from warming.

And how many solar panels do you own? What is in your driveway? Are you a player or a poser?

What about you Valhalla? I personally do own solar panels. But I also have an SUV. Been meaning to trade up to a hybrid Ford Escape over my current 2003 but I am waiting for something greener. The fuel cell cars coming from Toyota, I think, look promising. If Ford picks up that technology and puts it in their Escape line I will be first in line.

Valhalla,

It's spelled "poseur" not "poser," and it's defined as "somebody who tries to impress others by behaving in an affected way. . . ," one example of which is an "intellectual poseur" like you, Val.

How about, you Val, how many miles does your car get on a gallon of gas? I'll just bet you recycle your paper, glass, and plastic refuse, don't you, Val? Solar panels? Not until Micronesia stops polluting the Pacific?

Before you start assailing liberals for hypocritical inaction, look in the mirror, troll.

I see no need to attack religion here. They think they have the answers; don't pop their bubbles.

Yeah don't educate them on the history behind the book of Revelation... or that the guy who wrote it was imprisoned and the only way he could get his letter by the guards was to make it sound insane so they would want the people he was writing to to think he was crazy. I mean, it couldn't possibly just be a bunch of code written in that nonsense jibberish story that has no other basis that ties it to any other teachings in the Bible. LOL Please let them believe it literally. It's hilarious to know what kind of fear they live every day in believing that kind of garbage that is actually completely condemned by Jesus who said you should not live by signs and prophecies.

Well, glad to know you don't count yourself among us or else I'd have to point out that you misspelled geniuses. DOH! I just pointed it out. Guess I'm not as smart as I thought I was. (wink wink)

Massive deaths on the level of the plague. Once enough people die and it's too late, then all these lug heads will admit they were wrong but there won't be a blessed thing anyone will be able to do about it. When enough of the population dies off and all the subsequent horrible pollution caused by there being no one to run the nuclear plants and all the other nasty manufacturing places... after all that leeches out and dissipates... IF anyone manages to have found a way to live underground or something... then we can start over as a species. I don't plan to be around. As soon as it gets intolerable I'm outta here.

Well it's not your garden variety of ignorance though. They selectively feign ignorance in order to manipulate everyone. Look up the definition for psychopath, sociopath, or antisocial personality disorder (dysfunction).

no vexxa, some of us just do not give a damn.the human race sucks and all your babble is not going change a thing. reading your posts just wants me to hope the end of us all comes sooner rather than later.let nature start with something else like maybe the bees. death to us all, can"t sing or dance anyway

"Humans are a virus on planet Earth. We consume anything and everything until depletion"

Apparently so do starfish, which you would know if you actually read the article.

Well this won't help much but the sooner you accept that these antisocials can't feel compassion or love like you do, then the sooner we can start finding a way to marginalize them and get rid of their negative impact in our society.

" Is this supposed to be a natural occurence for the barrier reef? Of course not"

Storms and starfish are not naturally occurring??

I see the Virtual Coral Reef app on the horizon.

Of course, we won't be willing or able to at that point either.

Actually temps have risen and have been steadily increasing. And all indicators point to more warming,not a decline in temps.

How much have they risen, and where? What "indicators" point to more warming. How about some facts and figures, instead of empty words.

Well, if it is a "legitimate bleaching" the coral, you know, has a way of shutting that down...

Very true Uncle Dave.

Unless of course it's the large polyp stonies, They always become 'bleached' because you know they were asking for it.

It's truly amazing that people who want to contest what's fact or not on these boards are always asking for someone else to point out easily searchable facts. Villum1, you do have internet. Try using it for more than arguing your opinion. You have just as much access to every study available as I do. You're the same type of lazy right-winger that always wants someone else to do research for you. You don't even have to get up off your a$$ to do it.

Current Operational Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly Charts for the Year 2012.

reference - http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/ocean/sst/anomaly.html

For the current SST Anomaly Charts concerning coral reefs... see http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/ocean/sst/anom_anim.html

These charts are based on over 40+years of satellite data...

Now where is all this great body of INCREASING water temperatures???

In fact, currently the Barrier Reef area is experiencing a DECREASE in average temperatures...

But what the hell, ALL the Media Headlines tell the public different. So NASA must be WRONG...

You have the internet too, but aren't even willing to read the entire article on which you're commenting...

You can't trial to use localized temps to judge global averages! If you can remember just some months back, hurricane season was predicted to be more active this season, and we've seen an earlier start to hurricane season this year. Probably the most determinative factor in these predictions is ocean temps. Warmer waters means more evaporation which fuels these storms that form over the ocean. The word of most importance in the above is 'average'. There are lots of factors that contribute to temps in a localized area that can cause them to warm or even cool in relation to the global average. Water currents change and have cycles too. One thing that hasn't changed is mans effect on global temps. What indicators you ask? The effects of human activity that have long term effects beyond natural phenomena alone. As is a habit with the right, you try to make a point by latching on to small facts that don't represent the big picture. You can't make a point by citing limited and selective facts that don't represent the full picture. Your trying to support your view by focusing in on the topic through tunnel vision.

epa.gov/climatechange/science/indicators/oceans/sea-surface-temp.html

BrainCandy-3328906,

I cited data from almost 30+years of satellite observations and ARGOS data...

Your reference?

1. SST temps prior to the 1950's was accomplished by dragging a thermometer in a bucket, behind a ship. These ships were usually traveling along existing sea routes. Very limited observation areas and questionable accuracy...

2. As modern vessels (non-sailing) using internal combustion engines increased. This temperature data was obtained from the Engine cooling water intake records. Again very limited observation areas and VERY questionable accuracy, most mechanical gauges have accepted 10% errors, plus the effects of the ambent temperature in engine areas...

3. During the 1970's the SST data changed to satellites, which could cover the entire ocean surfaces, not just the shipping lanes. Even then, it was accepted that; surface winds, waves, cloud cover, sensor degradation, etc had effects on the accuracy of these readings...

4. Early 2000 the ARGOS buoy and satellite collection system became the accepted standard for SST and sub-surface data. These buoys now number in the thousands and are in every ocean of the World...

BTY - The ARGOS buoydata has shown little increase in temperatures, during their 12+years of data collection...

IMO - The EPA data is BS, just like using tree rings as a temperature indicator. Ignoring the effects of water and nutrition on a trees growth rates ( Mann & his hockey stick)...

If you do not know the methodology of; how the data was obtained, the accuracy of the data, the collection areas, or how the researcher determined what data they were going to use. The results and conclusions are questionable at best...

Just like NYC and many other coastal cities of the world, did for hundreds of years. Many cities are still doing this..

Chicago reversed the flow of a river, so they could dump their sewage into the Mississippi. Instead of the Great Lakes, where they were obtaining their drinking water...

"May God save us all". Right! God and religion are the problem. Religous freaks think it's there god giving right to consume like there is no tomorrow. Religon will kill us all.

I really can't see any value in these corals. All they do is take up resources and give nothing back, except to look pretty.

Nothing can be done to stop global warming, so they are going to have to get serious about getting rid of those starfish.

Rex, I sure as hell hope that's sarcasm.

Well, we could use a mass extinction, and that would take care of a lot of it for a long time.