The mainstream print media has been misinforming the public for years about man's affect on coral reefs - finally, '60 Minutes' tells truth that NYT & WAPO cover up
Read here. Dr. Roger Pielke Sr. is one of few climate scientists who has long insisted that human influence on climate is much more than just the CO2 greenhouse gas. For Americans, a recent the '60 Minutes' TV episode on the devastation of coral reefs pretty much vindicates Pielke's view that any number of non-CO2 factors significantly influence the world's climate and habitats.
"Scientists say the world's reefs are being harmed by a complex combination of factors; including pollution, agricultural runoff, coastal development, and overfishing. It turns out fish are essential to the health of a reef...The reason this reef's doing so well, Fabian Pina believes, is that it's far from the mainland and well-protected...Maybe it’s because this ecosystem is being protected, it’s got a leg up on other ecosystems around the world that are being heavily fished and heavily impacted by pollution. So that makes it more resilient. That’s one of the theories that if we do what we can locally that these reefs have a better chance of being resilient to what’s happening globally."
"There is a very important message from this news report. The risks to coral reefs are dominated by local interference by humans on its ecosystem function. Such effects include local pollution (e.g. runoff from rivers and shorelines and from shipping; overfishing including the major predator species such as sharks)...Despite this short reference to global warming in the CBS report, the report is quite an important addition to the broadening out of environmental issues beyond the myopic focus on global warming. The contrast between reef health near Veracruz, Mexico and the Cuba Preserve should convincingly show objective readers that coral bleaching from global warming is clearly not the largest threat to the health of tropical coral reefs."
Now, if only the MSM print media would also start informing their readers about the truth of climate change - that would be the truly real climate fix.
Previous postings on coral reefs and species-endangerment.