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Oceans Running Out of Time – Leading Reef Scientist

(From openmediaboston.org)- Humanity is running out of time. That is the stark, bleak message offered by leading Australian reef scientist J.E.N. Veron to a gathering of 50 or so members of the Boston Reef Society this Saturday.

By 2030, the oceans as a whole will be too acidic to sustain the coral reefs; well before then, krill populations—which feed everything from mega-mammals to birds and sea creatures much lower on food chain–will have fallen below sustainable levels.

Veron, former Chief Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, attributed the acidification of the oceans and the future “mass extinction event” to the radical rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels driven by human activity since the industrial revolution. For those who realized that the 2030 date is but 22 years hence, Veron had one further caution: it will take the ocean at least 10 years to respond to any changes. The deadline for a complete reversal in trends is at most 12 years into the future. The message comes from the man who identified nearly 20 percent of the world’s coral species.

Government policies necessary for a complete reversal are almost nowhere in place. While he praised the City of London and European public awareness in general for their recognition of the problem and need for radical policy solutions, he noted that the US and Australian governments are the worst in the world. Fortunately, he added the Australian government has recently changed.

 

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