Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Climate & Climate Change

New Report on Corals and Carbon for the Curious

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HAVE you ever wondered what happens when corals grow so tall they are above sea level or whether the Great Barrier Reef could extend its range further south with global warming?

If you are curious you will probably enjoy and learn much from a new 81-page report by Craig D. Idso on global warming and coral reefs [1].

The report doesn’t come to any quick conclusions, but rather, in plain English, explains how corals grow, how they can change and adapt following “coral bleaching” and why it is important to consider real-world observations rather than theoretical predictions.

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From Gaia to Medea: More Hubris

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THE Gaia hypothesis first proposed by British scientist James Lovelock – the notion that all living things are interlinked as a single self-regulating body – is popular with some scientists and accords with the idea that because human activity has changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere we are likely to be interfering with the climate and upsetting the balance of nature.  

Paleontologist, Peter Ward, rejects the notion of Gaia, and is running a contrarian but equally hubris argument in his new book, ‘The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive?’ [1].   Professor Ward suggests because there is no balance of nature mankind will needs to intervene and thus advocates geoengineering solutions including to climate change.  

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More on Global Warming and Malaria

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Dear Jennifer,

Prof Paul Reiter has just informed me of a recently published article of his in Malaria Journal that may be of interest to you.

The article is based on the chapter he wrote for the Civil Society Report on Climate Change.

It is freely available at http://www.malariajournal.com/content/7/S1/S3.

I would especially recommend reading the ‘Review’ section where Paul Reiter dissects the existing alarmist literature on vector-borne diseases and global warming (what is really a tiny group of individuals who self-reference each other to uphold unjustifiable claims).

Caroline Boin
International Policy Network
www.policynetwork.net
www.sdnetwork.net

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Paul Reiter, 2008, Global warming and malaria: knowing the horse before hitching the cart, Malaria Journal 2008, 7(Suppl 1):S3doi:10.1186/1475-2875-7-S1-S3
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/7/S1/S3