Coral Reefs Putting Up a Good Fight Against Climate Change | Blue Living Ideas

Peter Ridd, a professor of physics at James Cook University, and fellow reef-resiliency optimist agrees, generally pooh-poohing modern science’s version of reef health:

“Ten years ago, I was told that the coral was going to die from sediment, and we have proved that is complete rubbish,” Ridd says. “They are saying that pesticides are a problem, but when you look at the latest data that is a load of rubbish. They are saying that bleaching is the end of the world, but when you look into it, that is a highly dubious proposition.”

Socialist Project | The Bullet

The rest of us now have a killer hangover, because on behalf mainly of white capitalists (who are having the most fun of all), the world’s rulers stuck the poor and future generations with the vast clean-up charges – and worse: certain death for millions.

The 770 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere envisaged in the “Copenhagen Accord” signatories’ promised 15% emissions cuts from 1990 levels to 2020 – which in reality could be a 10% increase once carbon trading and offset loopholes are factored in – will cook the planet, say scientists, with nine out of 10 African peasants losing their livelihood.

The most reckless man at the party, of course, was the normally urbane, Ivy League-educated lawyer who, a year ago, we hoped might behave with the dignity and compassion behooving the son of a leading Kenyan intellectual. But in Obama’s refusal to lead the global North to make the required 45% emissions cuts and offer payment of the $400-billion (U.S.) annual climate debt owed to Third World victims by 2020, Obama trashed not only Africa but also the host institution, according to 350.org leader Bill McKibben: “he blew up the United Nations.”

Op-Ed Contributor - Acting Alone on Climate Change - NYTimes.com

Yet if the United States was seen to be taking a lead on facing climate change, there is almost no doubt that rich countries like Australia, which are accustomed to and often rely upon American leadership, would fall into line very quickly while poorer ones would gradually follow. ...
Unilateral action, not horse-trading, must become the guiding principle of emission cuts. Only then can formal pacts carry enough weight to be useful.