Coral Reefs are as Good as Dead, so We Don’t have to Try Anymore?
18 hours ago
Essay by Eric Worrall
But, but, there is still hope if we restrict fishing, reduce runoff pollution, and immediately commit to reducing CO2 emissions.
The end of coral reefs as we know them
Years ago, scientists made a devastating prediction about the ocean. Now it’s unfolding.
By Benji Jones@BenjiSJones Apr 26, 2024, 7:15am EDT
More than five years ago, the world’s top climate scientists made a frightening prediction: If the planet warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius, relative to preindustrial times, 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs globally would die off. At 2°C, that number jumps to more than 99 percent.
In not so great news, the planet is now approaching that 1.5°C mark. In 2023, the hottest year ever measured, the average global temperature was 1.52°C above the preindustrial average, as my colleague Umair Irfan reported. That doesn’t mean Earth has officially blown past this important threshold — typically, scientists measure these sorts of averages over decades, not years — but it’s a sign that we’re getting close.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/04/29/claim-coral-reefs-are-as-good-as-dead-so-we-dont-have-to-try-anymore/