When people notice I am down, they tend to think something has happened in my life that has led to my current demeanor at that time. What most people don’t realize, is I am like the Hulk, I am always down (but I don’t always show it). Sometimes, I screw up and let it show when in public, but I try to keep my cynical stance away from those around me so I don’t invariably cause them discomfort. Yet, I will discuss through jokes what has me down as laughter is needed when looking at our bleak outlook.
The most recent thing that has caused me to enter a state of distress: coral reefs. You see, I love documentaries. Arguably, I watch more documentaries than theatrical movies. I also tend to read long form non-fiction articles. I like these two mediums because they give me a great insight into the world that I don’t have time to enter or visit (yet). For example, today I have been to see the Great Barrier Reef, speak with a former Westboro Baptist Church’s spokeswoman, and learn about artificial superintelligence. It has been a busy day of traveling. What are the outcomes of these travels: a short story involving artificial superintelligence done in purely dialogue and this post.
So what is this post really going to be about? Well an odd solution that David Attenborough discussed.
See, coral provides a sanctuary to many forms of life and, arguably, is vital to the ocean’s ecosystems. No many reefs are being destroyed by human intervention at a local level – whoops, go humans. But some reefs are perfectly safe from local involvement, the ones in Cuba are in splendid condition (lack of industrialization has been cited as the reason for their condition, but that will soon change as American companies begin flooding that market). So there is a local effect on a reef’s health, but then there is the much scarier and looming disaster.
Call it what you want, climate shift, climate change, global warming, but I will call it: “the fucking thing that is literally raising the sea levels which is leading to a sovereign nation being swallowed by the ocean because humans are doing something that is messing shit up” or FTLRSLLSNSOHDSMSU for short. For reference, that nation is called the Maldives and there is a real possibility that it will soon be “swallowed” by the ocean (one estimate is 2100 and others are 2020, right now they are building sea walls and a search of their name will lead you to tourism information).
While the Maldives is one thing, reefs are another that is impacted by the same thing: drastic changes in a short period of time. Reefs are resilient, they have designed themselves to be adaptable and bounce back from natural disasters. They have survived many shifts in climate but they take time. For example, the coral on the Great Barrier Reef only releases their sperm and eggs once a year (all simultaneously which could be called the greatest climax in the world). So it takes a bit for them to adapt, but it is possible for them to adapt to changing shifts in environment. But, quick change isn’t necessarily possible. For example, a two degrees rise (centigrade) will kill them as they attempt to respond to this instigator. In the Paris climate conference, the agreement was to keep global warming to well below 2 degrees centigrade. Will we do it? Is it even possible to retroactively modify what we have done to cease the chain reaction that has begun? I think so, but then again, the United States just launched a thirteen billion dollar aircraft carrier while ITER struggles for funding to prove a net positive gain through an experimental fusion power plant they are building.
Well that brings us to this post, Odd Solution. We know that coral will die if a change in temperature is too drastic. So, it is obvious, let’s stop raising water temperatures even though it would be cool to swim in the Atlantic Ocean off the cost of New York City in the middle of winter. No, no, that isn’t the solution that the Australian scientists have decided to pursue. Odds are, they chose not to pursue that logical route because it is unattainable from a realistic standpoint.
And here is where we get to the heart of the matter, Australian scientists are selectively breeding coral in a lab to produce resistant strains of coral. See, we have been modifying nature through selective breeding (for a very long time) to make crops more resilient so why not coral? I am not talking GMO here; I am talking about having two different things bang to produce an offspring that is better. This would happen in nature and coral would survive as those species that were not suited to the new environment died. It would take time, but we are apparently out of time so humans have jumped in to produce a better bang out of each coital interaction.
So, should we save the world through diminishing human impact on the world, or should we get more involved and start changing things to suit what we have done. In Australia, they have chosen to get involved and not solve the root problem (honestly they can’t solve it on their own so I don’t blame them for making the decisions they have made), instead, Australian scientists have decided to breed super coral to withstand what we have done. Why, because they know it is an impossible endeavor to get “everyone” on-board (hell our country still has politicians who say there is no such thing as global warming (for reference, I believe that is fucking insane)). The issue isn’t if these politicians really believe what they say because a politician isn’t selling their true self, they are selling the collective ideals of those they represent. So a bunch of us in this country don’t believe there is a problem and this is a natural shift and nothing bad is happening… that’s the true problem. So talk to people, get morose, explain why your sad (I do it occasionally, but if I did it all the time, I wouldn’t have friends), and change some damn opinions.
Until then, this drink is to you Australia, you realized it is hopeless to fix what we are doing but didn’t want to lose the reefs. The new reefs of super coral will thank you, and the old reefs, well they will be dead so who cares about them. At least we will get to swim yearlong in all of our oceans!