Spring has sprung down under, and summer is on the way. That’s bad news for local marine environments already reeling from global warming. The Great Barrier Reef is already in big trouble, the lessor known but equally magnificent southern reef is right behind it, and coral assemblies worldwide are bleaching and crumbling. The culprit is climate change of course, and the change in ocean chemistry that comes with it. The ancient animals eject their symbiotic microbe partners as water warms or acidifies, the remaining stone exoskeletons turn white as a result. If conditions don’t improve and allow the tiny bacteria to come back home, the coral die and quickly crumble away. Scientists alarmed over that growing casualty rate are now brainstorming on ways to intervene:
Ruth Gates a coral Biologist from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Oahu is looking for stress-tolerant corals and breeding them to create a strain of coral that can help sustain reefs in changing temperatures … Different scientists are also focusing on several strategies. Thus, some experts are introducing new coral to damaged reefs. Philippe Cousteau, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau, has been pioneering techniques for transplanting reef micro fragments.
Cultivating corals, transplanting foreign species, even genetic engineering are all well and good. Hopefully a solution will emerge from some of that. But the easiest way to stop the bleaching and give reefs a fighting chance to bounce back would be to cap greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. And that’s why your vote matters so much in this election, even in a sapphire blue state, or one that’s ruby red.
Not only are Republicans doing everything they can to obstruct progress, they’re actively intimidating public and private institutions that monitor our environment and warn the rest of us when danger is looming. Regardless of the presidential choice, down ballot, you have a chance to vote for progress and against the mendacious sociopaths running what’s left of Lincoln’s party. Don’t rush through it next week, take your time, and vote accurately to kick those assholes to the curb.