MAJOR CORAL BLEACHING EVENT EXPANDS ACROSS CARIBBEAN, SEVERE IN PUERTO RIC

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2526.htm

MAJOR CORAL BLEACHING EVENT EXPANDS ACROSS CARIBBEAN, SEVERE IN PUERTO RICO AND U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
NOAA's New Coral Reef Watch Satellite Bleaching Alerts Aiding Managers

Oct. 25, 2005 — NOAA reports that a major coral bleaching event is underway in the Caribbean and may result in significant coral death in much of the region. Currently, the bleaching is centered in waters adjacent to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Reports of bleaching have come in from the Florida Keys and Texas' Flower Garden Banks in the north, to Tobago and Barbados in the southern Antilles, to Panama and Costa Rica in the west. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of the regions of high thermal stress as of Oct. 25, 2005, from NOAA's Degree Heating Week (DHW) satellite-based product that accumulates high temperature events. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Warnings of the onset of this event were first reported by the NOAA Coral Reef Watch Satellite Bleaching Alert monitoring system. Bleaching was first seen in late August in the Florida Keys and has now spread throughout much of the eastern Caribbean.

Coral bleaching is associated with a variety of stresses, including increased sea surface temperatures. This causes the coral to expel symbiotic micro-algae living in their tissues—algae that provide corals with food. Losing their algae leaves coral tissues devoid of color, and thus appearing to be bleached. Prolonged coral bleaching (over a week) can lead to coral death and the subsequent loss of coral reef habitats for a range of marine life.

<snip>

scary stuff!

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Very bad news....

[purr]

2. Not good at all...

Considering I have a salt water tank with quite a few corals and it is by far NOT the easiest thing to take care of. Someone told me once that if you drop ONE cigarette butt into a tank, the whole coral colony will die off.

I wonder if pollution has anything to do with this??

[fearnobush]

3. Major Coral Bleaching Event Expands Across Caribban, Severe in Puerto Rico

MAJOR CORAL BLEACHING EVENT EXPANDS ACROSS CARIBBEAN, SEVERE IN PUERTO RICO AND U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
NOAA's New Coral Reef Watch Satellite Bleaching Alerts Aiding Managers

Oct. 25, 2005 — NOAA reports that a major coral bleaching event is underway in the Caribbean and may result in significant coral death in much of the region. Currently, the bleaching is centered in waters adjacent to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Reports of bleaching have come in from the Florida Keys and Texas' Flower Garden Banks in the north, to Tobago and Barbados in the southern Antilles, to Panama and Costa Rica in the west.

Warnings of the onset of this event were first reported by the NOAA Coral Reef Watch Satellite Bleaching Alert monitoring system. Bleaching was first seen in late August in the Florida Keys and has now spread throughout much of the eastern Caribbean.

Coral bleaching is associated with a variety of stresses, including increased sea surface temperatures. This causes the coral to expel symbiotic micro-algae living in their tissues—algae that provide corals with food. Losing their algae leaves coral tissues devoid of color, and thus appearing to be bleached. Prolonged coral bleaching (over a week) can lead to coral death and the subsequent loss of coral reef habitats for a range of marine life.


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<http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2526.htm>

[stepnw1f]

4. Damn Man...

Why did I stop drinking again?

[fearnobush]

5. So that you could remember Fitzmass, with no blackout.

Then again. If the Grinch come's??? Lets hope no Grinch.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. No Words Can Describe The Sorrow

The consequences of leaving--those people--in control of Congress since 1995 and of the Executive Branch since 2001 are becoming apparent.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[callady]

7. Industrialism n/t

[babylonsister]

8. Major coral bleaching, major

fucked up government. Pick your poison. Who cares about what?
This current person isn't working, and I'm being kind.
It would be so refreshing to find someone who cares about the
environment!

[gulfcoastliberal]

9. Sorry, coral. You lose to the quick buck.

Rainforests, old growth redwoods, pristine wildernesses, coral, whatever. They represent quick bucks, corruption and a lack of foresight.

Paging Al Gore. Al Gore please enter the White House. Your party, country, and the world are waiting on terra firma.

[Uncle Joe]

22. Amen to that!

We need you Al!O8)

[WindRavenX]

10. The sea is very, very sick

Ask any Marine Biologist how the coral reefs are doing- you'll get a sad answer :(

[Rex]

11. Fragile eco-systems will die off first.

nt

[TygrBright]

12. I just do NOT get...

...how these self-proclaimed "Christians" can stand by with their thumbs up their butts, going "duh, well, it's only, like, coral, y'know..."

If your faith tells you that a benevolent Deity created this miraculously complex, beautifully interwoven system of life on Earth to sustain, and be cherished and stewarded by humanity, this kind of news has to have you spitting fire & brimstone.

Doesn't it?

Pat? Jerry? Franklin? Ralph? Anybody?

wonderingly,
Bright

[opihimoimoi]

13. God gave the wrong guys stewardship over the EARTH

should been the Troglodytes after all and not the H Sapiens.

[Tesha]

15. (It's actually the dolphins...)

It's actually the dolphins, with the African grey parrots as the
backup in case we kill off the dolphins.

Tesha

[Tesha]

14. Any religion that believes in a reward in the afterlife...

*ALL THE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS* are fundamentally destructive.

Any religion that believes in a reward in the afterlife is almost
guaranteed as a direct reuslt to have dogma that creates a screwed
life in the here-and-now.

o Kill all the infidels and you'll get 72 perpetual virgins.

o Shoot abortion providers and you'll walk carrying a golden
harp on streets paved with gold with streams nearby filled
with wine.

o Oppress everyone that your elders have decided that your God
doesn't like (such as women, darker-skinned people, Democrats,
and gays) and you'll get to sit at the right hand of the Father.


Fundamentalists don't care what they do to *THIS WORLD* because they
are certain that this world is at its end anyway and that because they
have behaved according to their perverted dogma, they will get their
eternal reward after they die. Bonus points: They can't hasten their
own death by actually, overtly committing suicide, but if they kill
the entire planet, well that's not suicide, right?

This is in sharp contrast to religions that either believe you get
one pass through life and then you're done or that believe that you'll
be returned to *THIS SAME PLANET* for another pass through life,
perhaps in a new station befitting your actions in your previous
pass through life. In both of those cases, the religions are oriented
towards creating dogma that *IMPROVES* the current situation rather
than taking either a laissez faire attitude towards it or even
actively attempting to destroy the current situation.

Tesha

[blindpig]

16. An ugly truth.

There are of course certain bits of the scripture that seem to support some sort of environmental stewardship but these are overwhelmed by those approved of by the dominate elite. You're quite right though, the trivialization of the here and now for the nebulous here after provides a basis for heedless exploitation and negligence.

Christianity had a chance to at least modify the effects of this mindset in the person of Francis of Assisi but he was nearly burnt at the stake for his efforts. As it was his more nature friendly teachings were pretty much buried along with him.

[Tesha]

17. Recently posted on another thread...

http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/dawk911.htm

Religion's Misguided Missiles
by Richard Dawkins
Guardian

[The Stranger]

20. Well struck, Tesha.

Keep the wisdom coming.

[AZBlue]

25. You're right - and these are also self-centered ideas

It's all about me and what do I get out of doing something (or not doing it) or praying a certain way. Will I get rewarded or not? That's really what it boils down to - what's in it for me? Me, me, me. How about looking at the earth and all it's inhabitants as part of a whole? How about looking at the big picture, i.e., we're just a second in the span of time? No one looks at what is "right" or "good" or "caring" - they just look at the rewards. So sad.

[hatrack]

18. If you're going to go live with Kung-Fu Jesus (w. Sin-Redeeming Grip) . .

. . . up in the Magic Cloud Palace after the God turns on the Divine Hoover and sucks the faithful out of their clothes while all us sinners have to stick around and get scourged with scorpions and hailstones and informercials, why worry?

That's what happens when millions and millions of American "Christians" stop walking the walk and instead dedicate their lives to a bad comic book plot. :shrug:

[AZBlue]

23. Those "Christians" only care about babies in wombs.

I do wonder sometimes what Jesus thinks of these people who are doing such horrible things in his name. Think of other great spiritual leaders - no one starts wars in Ghandi's name. No one desecrates the planet because Buddha said to do it. Poor Jesus!

[The Stranger]

19. Congratulations, your planet is dying.

[Just Me]

21. Sad.

:cry:

[AZBlue]

24. This is disgusting and heart-breaking because it's completely preventable

[Karenina]

26. So was the devastation in NOLA.

[barb162]

27. the coral goes first, then the fish next

[twaddler01]

28. eventually us humans

and the chances are increasing dramatically with the current administration (if you want to call them that) in power. :grr:

[barb162]

29. agree, it's gonna happen

And no matter how many times and in different ways the environmentalists are speaking out against this stuff and pollution, we keep mucking up the air, oceans and land.

[Colorado Blue]

30. Somehow we have to reach the people in power. WE see

this, scientists and environmentalists see it, but as long as people think this is "fuzzy science" or big business doesn't care, we can't really fix the problem.

Increasingly I sense that we're running out of time.