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Climate bullshit - reef edition

Seems like Dr. J. E. N. 'Charlie' Veron needs to get on some meds... The guy has an awesome C.V. but is dead wrong about the effects of CO2 on the environment (IMNSHO). From the London Times:

Great Barrier Reef will be gone in 20 years, says Charlie Veron
The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be unrecognisable within 20 years, an eminent marine scientist has said.

Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told The Times: “There is no way out, no loopholes. The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so.”

Once carbon dioxide had hit the levels predicted for between 2030 and 2060, all coral reefs were doomed to extinction, he said. “They would be the world’s first global ecosystem to collapse. I have the backing of every coral reef scientist, every research organisation. I’ve spoken to them all. This is critical. This is reality.”

I said this once and I Will say it again, Coral Reefs benefit from an increased level of CO2. Putting more CO2 into the atmosphere will cause them to grow faster and larger. I covered this back on June 1st of this year with this post: Environmental bullshit in the media There are people out there whose business is to grow pieces of coral for use in salt-water aquaria. There are companies that supply the hardware used by these people. Here is an excerpt from the online catalog page of Marine and Reef Aquarium Supply: In the June post I went on to say:

There is a whole section on hardware for the specific purpose of adding gaseous CO2 to freshwater and saltwater aquaria. The CO2 in freshwater tanks is plant food — if we did not have CO2, we would not have plants. When it comes to Reef tanks, things get interesting.

I go on to explain that the dissolved CO2 lowers the pH of the salt water and causes the dead corals to dissolve. The resultant trace minerals are taken up by the live corals. Sure, CO2 will cause coral to break down but it is the dead coral that is vulnerable. The result of this is that the live coral feed off of the nutrients that are released. It is not death, it is recycling. Once the coral is dissolved, the pH rises which is why CO2 needs to be continuously applied. Posted by DaveH at July 17, 2009 7:41 PM | TrackBack