Earth's Oceans Face Mass Extinction

[Ex-Aquanaut]

There’s more worrying news out today about the health of the world’s oceans, with an Australian paleontologist -- using the largest-ever sampling of fossil data – concluding the Earth is facing a mass extinction larger than even the end of the dinosaur age.

John Alroy of Sydney’s Macquarie University published his findings in the latest edition of international journal Science, writing that the entire sea floor is undergoing a major shift, with an eradication so large, that it will overturn the balance of the current marine food chain.

While we scuba divers and others bemoan the continuing destruction of the aquatic ecosystem, Alroy writes that a mass extinction actually might not be as horrific as it sounds.

Our take: http://wp.me/pZrsx-yI

 

[fire_diver]

Sounds like a lot of BS to me.

 

[Rhone Man]

Predictions like this are hard to validate, no matter how erudite the relevant scientist's qualifications; it is like looking at the sky for a nanosecond three times during the day and predicting tomorrow's weather on that basis.

Equally, it would not surprise me at all if it was validated by events - it seems logical that rapidly rising ocean temperatures and acidity levels (not to mention a host of other nasties) are likely to cause structural damage to the ecosystems. However, at the risk of sticking my head in the sand, there is not a lot that can be done. Even if the world's biggest polluter, the US, was to disappear off the face of the planet tomorrow, the US and India will soon overtake it, and they have no interest or inclination to stop.

 

[fire_diver]

The US is far from the worst pollutor. Many nations have NO pollution laws, and dumps metric tons of raw industrial waste into the environmentevery day. The US has some of the strictest polution controls.

 

[Thalassamania]

Hard to say who the "biggest" is, but it is safe to say, "major" polluter.

The thing that you have to remember is that EVERYTHING that is produced, one day or another, one way or another, will find it's way into the ocean ... EVERYTHING. It is just a matter of time, so the "biggest" polluter is, by definition, the biggest consumer of stuff.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The US is far from the worst pollutor. Many nations have NO pollution laws, and dumps metric tons of raw industrial waste into the environmentevery day. The US has some of the strictest polution controls.

If we citizens of the USA buy products made by factories in foreign countries that do not properly regulate pollution it is hard to be certain those products manufacturing process did not include a high pollution cost. If we continue as a country to have good trade relations with countries that allow destructive pollution, are we not contributing to the pollution?

The carbon footprint is part of how we define the total ecological footprint. In the last few years China is now topping the USA on the list of per capita carbon footprint, but if you count the footprint of all our consumables, as individuals and as a nation it is hard to imagine a people with a larger carbon footprint and similarly large ecological footprint.

 

[fire_diver]

If we citizens of the USA buy products made by factories in foreign countries that do not properly regulate pollution it is hard to be certain those products manufacturing process did not include a high pollution cost. If we continue as a country to have good trade relations with countries that allow destructive pollution, are we not contributing to the pollution?

The carbon footprint is part of how we define the total ecological footprint. In the last few years China is now topping the USA on the list of per capita carbon footprint, but if you count the footprint of all our consumables, as individuals and as a nation it is hard to imagine a people with a larger carbon footprint and similarly large ecological footprint.

I agree, I wish more people would pay attention to where the items they buy are made. But it seems that every year it gets harder and harder to find thing NOT made in China, India, or other SE Asian countries.

I also wish more cities would sponsor recycling efforts. So many towns start them, them dump them shortly after because they can't make money off it.

 

[Thalassamania]

I agree, I wish more people would pay attention to where the items they buy are made. But it seems that every year it gets harder and harder to find thing NOT made in China, India, or other SE Asian countries.

I also wish more cities would sponsor recycling efforts. So many towns start them, them dump them shortly after because they can't make money off it.

You are not getting the concept, think harder.

 

[Rhone Man]

The US is far from the worst pollutor. Many nations have NO pollution laws, and dumps metric tons of raw industrial waste into the environmentevery day. The US has some of the strictest polution controls.

My bad - the US is not the worst polluter (at least in terms of CO2 emissions). But it is definitely way up there, despite its environment protection laws.

Link: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/graph-showing-each-countrys.html

 

[fire_diver]

You are not getting the concept, think harder.

Yes, I do. Everything is driven by the consumer. If individual people cared, they wouldn't buy products from polluting companies. If individual people cared, they would recylce. If individual people cared, they would carpool, ride a bike, or walk when possible reduce thier impact on the enviroment. When EVERYONE does that it makes global changes, but nothing changes until individual living changes.

But, I hate those stupid country charts, which country does what, etc. Show it percapita. The US is a huge country, so our level of impact is naturally higher than most other countries.