Our Global Ocean Conference - Day 2
This is Day 2 of the Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN. Please see prior two posts for intro to this post.
5th Speaker – Christopher
Sabine, Ph.D.
What Does Midwest Coal Have To Do With The Price of Shellfish In
Seattle? Understanding How Fossil Fuels
Contribute To Ocean Acidification
Pacific
Marine Environmental Laboratory
Seattle,
WA
The
research of environmental oceanographer Christopher Sabine focuses on the
global carbon cycle. He was among the
first to publish scientific data about human-derived carbon dioxide in the
ocean and its impact on marine ecosystems.
Dr.
Sabine was very easy to follow and very intriguing. We have been hearing for many, many years how
harmful an over abundance of carbon can be to our environment. So his point immediately was that the oceans
absorb even more carbon than our atmosphere, 50% more and that is leading to
the acidification of the oceans.
He
talked about how much carbon has increased in our environment since ancient
times (yes, they can collect that type of information). He also spelled out that of all the human
generated carbon into our environment 50% goes into the atmosphere, 26% goes
into the land and 24% goes into the oceans.
Prior
to industrialization the world was totally in balance and as a result of
industrialization the role of the oceans has been reversed. Prior to industrialization the oceans
released carbon into the atmosphere, now it is absorbing carbon. And, since carbon dioxide is an acid gas it
is having a profound impact on the acidification of the ocean. One impact is how easy or hard it is for
organisms to produce their shells. And
around the world over the next 20 years the growth of corals will slow down
dramatically and by the end of the century coral beds globally will no longer
be growing.
There
is much, much more to Dr. Sabine’s presentation. I urge you to watch it via the link
below.
What Does Midwest Coal Have To Do With The Price of Shellfish In
Seattle? Understanding How Fossil Fuels
Contribute To Ocean Acidification
6th Speaker – Kathleen Dean
Moore, Ph.D.
Red Sky At Morning: Ethics And
The Oceanic Crisis
Spring
Creek Project for Ideas, Nature and the Written Word
Oregon
State University
Corvallis,
OR
Environmental
philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore writes about moral, spiritual, and cultural
connections to wet and wild places. If
you watch no other clip from the Nobel Conference, watch this one!!!
Dr.
Moore asked lots of good questions for those of us in the audience to
ponder. She noted that our current
course as humans is treading down the path of a reckless destruction of oceanic
life. She noted that we have many, many
failures; a failure of imagination, a failure of reverence and a failure of
love. We have created a moral
monstrosity on a global scale. She
asked, “How did we lose our way?” By making ourselves the exceptions to all the
rules that govern life on earth we are destroying the very systems that support
life on earth.
The
question that needs to be asked is “What should I do in the world? And the Answer is in asking myself “What is
my gift?”
This
presentation must be watched to garner the full impact, but if you don’t watch
it….Dr. Moore left us with a benediction…..
I
wish you,
Balance
Work of Worth
Calm Confidence
Perspective
Imagination
Laughter
Courage
Red Sky At Morning: Ethics And
The Oceanic Crisis
7th Speaker – Ove
Hoegh-Guldberg
Coral Reefs In A Rapidly Changing Climate: Going, Going, Gone?
Global
Change Institute
University
of Queensland
Brisbane,
Australia
Ove
Hoegh-Guldberg is a leading coral biologist whose professional interests focus
on the impact of global warming and climate change on coral reefs.
Ove
began his presentation by stating that science doesn’t actually know how many
species live on coral reefs…he guesses between 1-9 million, most unknown to
science. Coral reefs play a vital role
on our earth by feeding 500 million people around the world, serve as break
wave action along coastlines and they are also a tourism industry.
He
noted that most if not all will be dead in 20-30 years; which means that our
grandchildren and great grandchildren will never experience the awesomeness of
snorkeling or diving on the reefs of Grand Cayman, the reefs of Hawaii, the
reefs of the Great Barrier, or any reef!!
Ove
stated that the major factors threatening the reefs are
·
Over fishing
·
Disturbing the coastline (drag net fishing)
·
Climate change
We
all know that human generated gases are increasing the temperature of the
planet and as a result with just an increase of .8◦ we are already seeing significant negative
consequences. We know that 95%+ of increased heat is disappearing into
the ocean. These increases lead to
increased pH levels which, even if we reverse all of our trends right now,
today it will still take 10,000s of years to change the pH of the ocean back to
its normal levels.
He noted that in
the 1980’s samples began to come into his lab indicating that the reefs were
turning white (bleaching) and dying in the Caribbean. What they learned from these samples is that…
·
There were no scientific reports regarding this action prior to 1979
·
That bleaching is caused by small (1-2◦C) temperature increases
·
That
bleaching is followed by disease outbreaks and coral mortality
·
That there
is increased intensity and frequency in the occurrence.
·
By 1998
the scientists were seeing massive coral bleaching.
·
By end of
1998 they measured a 16% of global loss of coral reefs
·
This
bleaching action is very predictable
·
Mass coral
bleaching is driven by thermal stress
His dire quote is
that…”by the end of this decade there will be no coral in the Great Barrier
Reef.”
Again, you need
to watch this presentation for yourself if what I have shared above concerns
you!!
Warning: He has a very goofy sense of humor!
Coral Reefs In A Rapidly Changing Climate: Going, Going, Gone?
8th & Final Speaker Speaker
– Carl Safina, Ph.D
Caught In The Same Net: The Ocean and Us
Blue
Ocean Institute
Cold
Spring Harbor, NY
Carl
Safina is a prominent ecologist and marine conservationist who in 2003
co-founded Blue Ocean Institute, an environmental organization designed to inspire
conservation by using science, art and literature to build a ‘sea ethic’.
The
middle of this presentation was the best.
Unfortunately Dr. Safina chose to read to us from one of his books for
the first 10 minutes of his presentation and the last 10 minutes. I don’t respond well to being read to, so I
skipped forward and found where he put the book aside and gave his
presentation.
He
did catch my attention initially when he said what drew him to the scientific
study of the ocean was his love of fishing.
This was a hook for me as my father, brother and great-nephew are/were
avid fishermen. I spent many hours in my
childhood either on the banks of rivers and lakes with my Dad while he fished
or on deep sea fishing boats enjoying the ride while they fished for
hours.
The
facts that Dr. Safina shared were of course troubling, to say the least. He made the comment that “Peace, Nature,
Civilization and Human Dignity are all facets of the same gemstone, and abrasion
of one tarnishes them all”.
First
fact, we have eaten all the Orange Roughy.
If you find it on a menu now they are lying to you. This species of fish
·
Lived to be 100 years old
·
Didn’t start breeding until they were 30 years old
·
Because we harvested them so thoroughly, they couldn’t resist us, they
are now gone
He
didn’t need to remind us that humans are a force of nature…that can/do affect
extinctions.
Another
example is a species of shark that is pregnant for 2 years, longer than
elephants. When we kill the female, we
kill the next generation a well.
Fishing
has taken on a whole new perspective with fishermen who blast reefs to scoop up
the dead fish and poison the reefs with cyanide to catch fish….(hardly ‘catching’
since the fish are dead when they scoop them up.)
He
noted that the Gulf of Mexico is officially a ‘dead zone’ due to farm runoff
down the Mississippi River.
He
went on and on with fact after fact of man’s negative impact on the Ocean. Please watch this presentation. It is an excellent close to the
conference.
Caught In The Same Net: The Ocean and Us
I will post one
more blog regarding this Conference….my personal Debrief: What I learned, What
my action steps are.
posted by Sue's Ramblings @ 5:48 AM
1 Comments:
You did a great job condensing these presentations. Glad to have read them as they are inspiring. That is why I go each year. The film festivals make the same effect on me and I get all fired up!!!
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