Image from the Washington Post. ". . . the effects of the current rise in temperatures of our oceans is worse than you or I could have imagined. It's so bad that it may take thousands of years for ocean life to recover. That's a recovery time measured in millennia, for those who prefer polysyllabic Latinate words:
"A study has found that it might take thousands of years for the ocean to recover from climate change. Researchers studied more than 5,400 fossils from a 30-foot-long core sample taken from the Pacific Ocean floor near Santa Barbara, California, and found that it can take millennia for ocean ecosystems to recover after periods of deoxygenation and warming waters. [...] "In this study, we used the past to forecast the future," Peter Roopnarine, curator of invertebrate zoology and geology at the California Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "We don't want to hear that ecosystems need thousands of years to recover from disruption, but it's critical that we understand the global need to combat modern climate impacts."
"Here is what the article posted at Science News regarding this research study has to say about its importance to our understanding of the impacts of global warming on Ocean ecosystems and biodiversity (Source: www.dailykos.com)."
GR: I agree with the author "News like this should be cause for all of us to be running around screaming with our heads on fire."
When one of the Coldwater Farm ponds developed a heavy algae bloom that began killing fish, I felt the same urgency that comes when you watch a newborn on its first search for a teat. I aerated and filtered desperately, but in the end all the fish died.
Are we as helpless to save our ocean ecosystems? Probably, but let's watch for opportunities to urge our leaders to apply the Earth Ethic to our marine ecosystems.
