If you have been lucky enough to snorkel around a coral reef you will know what marvellous places they are. They are homes to about a quarter of all marine life and are an invaluable source of shelter for breeding and spawning fish and crustaceans. Reefs also serve a valuable carbon dioxide absorbing function both directly and indirectly by protecting shorelines thus enabling trees like mangroves to grow. They also absorb a lot of wave energy, particularly important when events like Tsunamis are involved.
Last week the World Conservation Union (a body made up of 83 countries, 110 government agencies, 800 NGOs and more than ten thousand scientists) reported their findings, having studied coral reefs. 2005 was the warmest year ever recorded. The land and the seas were warmer than ever and there were more hurricanes in the Caribbean which were more violent than ever. 2005 was the year of Hurricane Katrina that devastated Louisiana and Hurricane Wilma that caused greater more violent damage to parts of Mexico.
As well as having to cope with harsher more violent weather caused by human carbon dioxide emission, these fragile eco systems are being damaged by careless human activity. The slightly warmer seas cause bleaching of coral – the process under which they die and turn white. The World Conservation Union fears that we will lose many coral reefs in the next few years, not only by climate change but also by inappropriate tourism which generates pollution and over fishing in these places. Given time, the reefs may adapt to climate change, but if the pace of change is too fast we shall lose them all.
Warmer seas kill coral and this is simply one example of how global warming is rapidly making the world a less pleasant and more extreme place in which to live. As humans our behaviour causes an impact on our climate, most scientists believe to be true to a 90% degree of probability.
The behaviour that causes this is the relentless uncontrolled burning of fossil fuel and other carbon dioxide creating activities, which are happening faster than the earth can neutralise. We know how to deal with the problem, but it the solutions involve expense and very hard work. I wonder whether any politicians will have the courage to do what is necessary.
Filed under: biodiversity, carbon emissions, climate change, weather Tagged: | climate change, coral reefs, Katrina, warmer seas, Wilma, world conservation union
Felix
your idea seems perfectly feasible to me nd should in operation keep coalr reefs healthy.
Unfrtunately your link does not work, and if you care to provide a link to your site, I’ll be happy to publicise your work.
Robert
Robert, In regards to dieing coral, we have created a new air curtain that we are working on in the Caribbean on Puerto Rico. It is called “Wave Killer”. Global warming is having devastating affects on our corals world wide. Here we have actually seen temperatures in the summer of 95 degrees and have once seen temps in the shallows of 102 F. We are now looking for grants for one portion of Wave killer. What this system will do is bring cold water of whole coastlines from depths of 150 and 200 feet up to the surface to mix with hot surface temperatures bringing surface temps down. We already have the air curtains functioning and are doing filming next week. We are in the midst of getting our permits from the DNR and the army corp of engineers. We are hoping to possibly have an 8 mile active system operational by August / September. If you wish to know more contact us at http://www.caribesalvageconstruction.com I believe that the earth needs help and we have the technology to help her.
I agree that people should be informed; that is why we put our installation manuals on line, so that they know and understand what the installer is doing.
Thanks for your comments.
Point taken Robert, I try to make people aware of what is involved so they are better informed and can employ the professionals armed with some basic knowledge. We have however majored on the electrical panel systems rather than the hot water panels but the same roughly applies. We point out the dangers and remind visitors frequently that If you are in any doubt of your own ability then consult a qualified electrician or installer with knowledge of solar systems. Keep up the good work Robert.
Mike
Thanks very much for the kind comments, and good luck with your project.
I think that generally solar panels should be installed by professionals. It is not usually a do it yourself job, because you have to correctly size and design the system climb on roofs, plumb to very high standards soemtimes using hard solder and brazing, or else having the right equipment to crimp. You also have to know enough to set up the digital controller to get the best results. You also need to be qualified to install pressure vessels.
At Genersys becasue of these reasons our guarantee doesn’t apply to incorrectly installed panels.
If installation was a do it yourself thing, we’d sell a lot more. We do want the customer’s experience to be as positive as possble and the only way is to have the kit properly installed. If you want an idea of the technical installation requirements here is a link to our installtion manual: http://www.genersys-solar.com/downloads.asp?ID=82
Robert
I am very interested in your website and the awareness your creating surrounding climate change and green issues. I have a website that tries to make people aware of solar energy and gives them practical advice on getting started with installing solar panels. Not everyone has big budgets for these installations so I try to give practical advice so people can decide for themselves whether they want to do some of the work themselves. We are an independent website with the sole purpose of making people aware and helping them to evaluate their own needs for installation of solar panels. The website is http://www.solaratlas.com
Thanks for the links – unfortunately they do not show much in the way of good news.
Robert
Some interesting oceanic links pertaining to climate change:
Coastal flooding map
http://archive.cyark.org/hazards/index.php
Charts and stats about coastal flooding
http://sealevel.colorado.edu/
Sea temperature and Salinity data
http://www.argo.net/
The legacy will be a poisoned world, if we do not mend our ways.
Robert,
As a trained diver we are taught from day one you never touch, pick up or bring back anything other than man made items from the sea and especially coral reefs. I have seen at first hand the coral bleaching you refer to, and it’s not a pretty site hundreds of meters of bleached coral with no fish or plant life on it is not good. On my last holiday we went to Malaysia where upon entering the island we were staying we were charged a “Marine Tax” to try to educate and eleviate some of the local problems caused by divers who go diving for shells or coral, if we don’t do something soon with regard to the warming of the seas (and else where) what sort of legacy are we going to leave our children and grand children.