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Fifth of world coral reefs lost, survey finds
Conservation scientists say rest is imperiled by warming seas, pollution.

POZNAN, Poland - A downward trend tied to warming seas has not reversed and the world has now lost nearly one-fifth of its coral reefs, according to a global survey released Wednesday.

Much of the rest could be destroyed within 40 years by increasingly acidic seas if warming continues unchecked, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network stated in its report.

"The report details the strong scientific consensus that climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum. If nothing is done to substantially cut emissions, we could effectively lose coral reefs as we know them, with major coral extinctions," network coordinator Clive Wilkinson said in a statement.

The report was released on the sidelines of the 190-nation U.N. talks on a new climate change treaty. Thousands of delegates are negotiating this week in Poznan, Poland.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which maintains a list of threatened species worldwide, cited warming as the latest and most serious threat to coral, already damaged by destructive fishing methods, nonnative species and pollution like raw sewage.

"If nothing changes, we are looking at a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide in less than 50 years," Carl Gustaf Lundin, head of the IUCN Global Marine Program, warned in a statement. "As this carbon is absorbed, the oceans will become more acidic, which is seriously damaging a wide range of marine life from corals to plankton communities and from lobsters to seagrasses."

"The world has lost about 19 percent of its coral reefs during the last 20 years," added the IUCN's director general, Julia Marton-Lefevre. "If current trends in carbon dioxide emission continue, many of the remaining reefs will be lost in the next 20 to 40 years," she told reporters in Poznan.

"Climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum if we want to save coral reefs. We need to move forward and substantially cut emissions," she said.

Increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which fuels global warming, is raising the level as well as the temperature of the oceans, said Olof Linden of the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden. That makes the water more acidic, adversely affecting reef-building coral that rely on calcification to build their shells.



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Tommy & Sonia Blackledge
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OK, I'll see your Poznan, Poland and raise you one, uh, Poznan, Poland!.....
--------------------------------------------------------------


Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims

Study: Half of warming due to Sun! -Sea Levels Fail to Rise? - Warming Fears in 'Dustbin of History'

POZNAN, Poland - The UN global warming conference currently underway in Poland is about to face a serious challenge from over 650 dissenting scientists from around the globe who are criticizing the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore. Set for release this week, a newly updated U.S. Senate Minority Report features the dissenting voices of over 650 international scientists, many current and former UN IPCC scientists, who have now turned against the UN. The report has added about 250 scientists (and growing) in 2008 to the over 400 scientists who spoke out in 2007. The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers.
The U.S. Senate report is the latest evidence of the growing groundswell of scientific opposition rising to challenge the UN and Gore. Scientific meetings are now being dominated by a growing number of skeptical scientists. The prestigious International Geological Congress, dubbed the geologists' equivalent of the Olympic Games, was held in Norway in August 2008 and prominently featured the voices and views of scientists skeptical of man-made global warming fears. [See Full report Here: & See: Skeptical scientists overwhelm conference: '2/3 of presenters and question-askers were hostile to, even dismissive of, the UN IPCC' ]

Full Senate Report Set To Be Released in the Next 24 Hours - Stay Tuned�

A hint of what the upcoming report contains:

"I am a skeptic�Global warming has become a new religion." - Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.

"Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly�.As a scientist I remain skeptical." - Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called "among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years."

Warming fears are the "worst scientific scandal in the history�When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists." - UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.

"The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn't listen to others. It doesn't have open minds� I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists," - Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the UN-supported International Year of the Planet.

"The models and forecasts of the UN IPCC "are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity." - Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

"It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don't buy into anthropogenic global warming." - U.S Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA.

"Even doubling or tripling the amount of carbon dioxide will virtually have little impact, as water vapour and water condensed on particles as clouds dominate the worldwide scene and always will." - . Geoffrey G. Duffy, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Auckland, NZ.

"After reading [UN IPCC chairman] Pachauri's asinine comment [comparing skeptics to] Flat Earthers, it's hard to remain quiet." - Climate statistician Dr. William M. Briggs, who specializes in the statistics of forecast evaluation, serves on the American Meteorological Society's Probability and Statistics Committee and is an Associate Editor of Monthly Weather Review.

"For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming? For how many years must cooling go on?" - Geologist Dr. David Gee the chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress who has authored 130 plus peer reviewed papers, and is currently at Uppsala University in Sweden.

"Gore prompted me to start delving into the science again and I quickly found myself solidly in the skeptic camp�Climate models can at best be useful for explaining climate changes after the fact." - Meteorologist Hajo Smit of Holland, who reversed his belief in man-made warming to become a skeptic, is a former member of the Dutch UN IPCC committee.

"Many [scientists] are now searching for a way to back out quietly (from promoting warming fears), without having their professional careers ruined." - Atmospheric physicist James A. Peden, formerly of the Space Research and Coordination Center in Pittsburgh.

"Creating an ideology pegged to carbon dioxide is a dangerous nonsense�The present alarm on climate change is an instrument of social control, a pretext for major businesses and political battle. It became an ideology, which is concerning." - Environmental Scientist Professor Delgado Domingos of Portugal, the founder of the Numerical Weather Forecast group, has more than 150 published articles.

"CO2 emissions make absolutely no difference one way or another�.Every scientist knows this, but it doesn't pay to say so�Global warming, as a political vehicle, keeps Europeans in the driver's seat and developing nations walking barefoot." - Dr. Takeda Kunihiko, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Science and Technology Research at Chubu University in Japan.

"The [global warming] scaremongering has its justification in the fact that it is something that generates funds." - Award-winning Paleontologist Dr. Eduardo Tonni, of the Committee for Scientific Research in Buenos Aires and head of the Paleontology Department at the University of La Plata. # #

In addition, the report will feature new peer-reviewed scientific studies and analyses refuting man-made warming fears and a heavy dose of inconvenient climate developments. (See Below: Study: Half of warming due to Sun! -Sea Levels Fail to Rise? - Warming Fears in 'Dustbin of History')


I hope that someday we can put aside our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people.
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skippy,
it's interesting to hear that so much dissent is still going on regarding global warming. I've never been convinced one way or the other regarding man caused CO2 resulting in catastrophic climate change. It seems that there is plenty of evidence on both sides.

Dan


"Facts are the enemy of Truth"
Don Quixote
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You'll find much useful input to the "global warming" debate on http://www.eureferendum.blogspot.com/ . Also look up the writings of Christopher Booker, who writes in the Daily Telegraph of London and other places.

It seems to me that the position is far more complex than many environmentalists would have us believe. My view, applying Occam's Razor, is that I see no evidence either that the climate is warming or that mankind is responsible. Certainly climate is dynamic, but as the far more expert analysis of the geological records that modern technology permits shows, that has always been the case. Many people forget that we are still in an ice age, and that these have waxed and waned numerous times in identifiable geologic history. Anyone wondered why?

As to the coral reefs, it is increasingly believed that the cause for their undoubted demise is pollution, not temperature. We have for centuries treated our oceans like cesspits, especially since industrialisation started, and the consequences are now beginning to strike home.

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Amen that.

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Originally Posted by Peter Jones
Many people forget that we are still in an ice age, and that these have waxed and waned numerous times in identifiable geologic history. Anyone wondered why?


Quote
Study: Half of warming due to Sun!


Peter Jones,
I'm open to evidence on both sides of the debate. However, it's hard for me to lend too much credence to climatoligists. Let's face it, it's a new science based on computer simulations. I'm willing to listen, but the computer models may be wrong.

When I was in skool I took classes from the Colorado Springs campus of the University of Colorado. We would get guest professors from the nearby Air Force Academy, and one of them walked us through a theory that the Ozone Hole (remember that?) was caused by solar activity. The guy was a space shuttle pilot, and he studied solar flares with a seriousness of somebody who would be exposed to them in the vacuum of space. His thesis: stratospheric ozone is consumed by the solar wind. That's how it protects the earth's surface from UV radiation. He showed us the recient history of solar flares, and there was an obvious increase in solar activity during the past couple of decades. Therefore, we could ban all the Freon manufactured worldwide and it wouldn't make a difference. I don't know if he was right, but his argument made sense.

As we moved from the Ozone Hole to Global Warming, I listened to the new arguments with as much objectivity as possible. Of course, anybody can say anything they want, but I'm unconvinced.

Dan



"Facts are the enemy of Truth"
Don Quixote

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