Re: Angelfish off MASS and bleaching coral....(link to global warming series)


atl_m...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> gould0738@xxxxxxx wrote:
> > An email this morning reads:
> >
> > Chuck
> >
> > I thought you may be interested in this detailed ocean/global warming
> > piece we just sent to our members since this topic is really heating
> > up.
> >
> > You might think an angelfish in the waters off Massachusetts is one
> > confused and chilly little tropical critter, unless you know that
> > scientists have watched ocean temperatures rising since 1975. Check out
> > the new seven-part web feature on oceans and human-caused climate
> > change, featuring our own scientists and Doug's son Chris Rader, a
> > marine biologist in the Florida Keys. The feature gives you a run-down
> > of solutions and science, including the basics of glaciers, ecosystems
> > and the ocean's "conveyor belt." What were you doing the year that
> > corals were bleaching in nearly every ocean during the warmest 12-month
> > span on record? Piece -
> > http://www.oceansalive.org/explore.cfm?subnav=article&contentID=4704.
>
>
> Now, Chuck, you know darn good and well that there isn't such a thing
> as global warming. That's just something those unpatriotic, terrorist
> loving, well educated, liberal scientists are using to undermine the
> war on terror in Iraq. Now, everybody back in line, and goose step.


I'm blaming my new depthsounder, but I have been getting summer water
temperature readings that are consistently 1 degree higher and in some
cases 2-3 degrees higher than readings in the same areas in previous
years.
It isn't unusual to have one warm year, or one cool year, and the
climate does fluctuate- but we shouldn't be willing to accept any
extreme amount of change we observe as a natural phenomenon. The ozone
"hole" is a good example; since the use of CFC's was generally banned
the hole seems to be repairing itself. (Although some free marketeers
would claim the ozone hole would have stabilized, anyway, and that
removing certain chemical compounds from the environment had nothing to
do with it. You can still find people to insist there's no medical
evidence linking smoking with lung cancer, too)

Changes in the ocean environment certainly impact how we use and enjoy
our boats. Small changes can effect the number of fish, and even the
species of fish, available to catch. A trend of generally warmer water
temps have played hell with out Pacific NW salmon runs for several
years, although we did enjoy a couple of years where the temps dropped
parially back toward the historic norms and we had (relatively)adequate
runs of fish.

Oceans (as well as green plants on shore) are vital to the existence of
life as we know it on this planet. There is always a chance that just
maybe some guy grousing one minute about how salmon fishing ain't what
it used to be and gd'ing "them liberal environmentalists and their
global warming crap" the next isn't seeing the big picture.

.

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