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#24455 01/11/08 04:30 AM
Joined: Oct 2004
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INTERVIEW WITH PROFFESSOR KEN CALDEIRA

Ken Caldeira, Ph.D., Staff Scientist and Chemical
Oceanographer, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford
University’s Department of Global Ecology, Palo Alto,
California:
“I think we can expect that coral reefs will not be found on this planet some time later this century if current greenhouse gas emissions continue.

Beyond corals, there are a lot of other affected sea life – surface plankton make their skeletons out of calcium
carbonate – so it is really imperative if we are to preserve our marine environment that we really have to
bring down CO2 emissions very rapidly.

>ACCORDING TO THE CARNEGIE RELEASE, THE PROJECTION IS THAT
BY 2050 – WHICH IS ONLY 42 YEARS FROM RIGHT NOW – THAT
THE ATMOSPHERIC CO2 LEVEL IS PROJECTED TO BE 550 PPM,
WHICH IS THE FOCUS OF YOUR STUDY – MEANING THAT IN 42
YEARS THE CONDITION OF THE OCEANS COULD BE SUCH THAT NO
CORAL REEFS COULD SURVIVE?

"Yes, I think that is correct.
The last time that similar conditions were known to have existed in the oceans was 65 million years ago after the dinosaurs became extinct.
Then there was an ocean acidification event and corals and planktons that make their shells out of calcium
carbonate disappeared from the geological record.

It took about 2 million years for corals to come back and repopulate the coasts of the continents and be common
once again.

>"What do you say to people who argue that 65 million years ago When the Dinosaurs were here, and that there was little or no ice at the Artic or Antartic, and Carbon Dioxide levels were up at around 1000 ppm?

"Thats easily answered.
When the dinosaurs were around 65 to 100 million years ago, lots of volcanoes were putting out carbon dioxide about twice what they are today. But our carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas are about 50 times the amount of carbon dioxide coming out of volcanoes.
If we were only doubling the natural CO2 fluxes, then the chemistry of the ocean would be able to handle it and adapt to it. But when we are putting out CO2 fifty times faster than natural sources, it overwhelms the ocean’s natural ability to buffer its chemistry. So, we are putting the CO2 in way too fast for the oceans to be able to deal with it"
“Even If atmospheric CO2 stabilizes at 550 ppm – and that would take an almost impossible international effort to achieve – no existing coral reef will remain in such an environment.”

>So, even the most conservative estimate for CO2 in the
atmosphere by 2050 is still too much for coral reefs to survive in the world’s oceans!
The result of a talk with Prof. Caldeira this week about the latest research and the implications for our future.<




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"You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.


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Posts: 1,164
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This is why just cutting emissions will not save the biosphere.
Simply slowing the increase (current plan), is inadequate.
We should be trying to reverse the increase in CO2 levels.

Increasing sequestration (decreasing degradation) is key to really rescuing this Creation we enjoy.


Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.

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