Learning and Discovery Can Often Be Quite Painful:
First I learned we’re The Smelliest Creatures on Earth,
Then I discovered we’re Just Specks in The Cosmos;
Now, another very recent scientific sea study,
And these dire findings, sadden me the most.
“Everything that ever walked or crawled
On the face of this Earth,
Swum the depths of its oceans,
Or soared through its skies,
Had its origins right here.”
Robert M. Fresco
Music: Conquest of Paradise
A new study has just been released
By: The World Resources Institute
It’s entitled: ‘Reefs at Risk, Revisited’
And, its conclusions are not very good
This is a follow-up report, to one from 1998
And, it is far more comprehensive than the last
It concludes that: 75 percent of our oceans’ reefs
Are already in peril, with deterioration occurring fast
We’ve been causing severe, planet-wide damage to our life-giving reefs
From our never ending pollution, drag-fishing, and coastal development
Yet, the majority of all life found in our oceans, depends on these reefs
And by the year 2030, 90 percent of all these coral reefs, could be dead
These magnificent ancient reefs, which have given so much, to all life
Which have produced countless generations of fish, to feed everyone
Which have provided so many wondrous plants, to help cure diseases
And which, in a few decades, by the hand of man, may soon be done
And yet, so many human beings today, continue to scoff at the notion
That we are killing our oceans, and all the wondrous life, they all sustain
Too many want to continue to harvest and destroy everything they hold
Content to leave future generations with nothing left, from what we gain
“Three quarters of the world’s life-giving coral reefs,
And all of the varied oceanic life that they all sustain,
Are today being seriously threatened and now destroyed,
By shipping, over-fishing, extremely destructive ‘drag’ fishing,
Massive coastal development, oil spillage, air and water pollution,
Climate change, warming sea temperatures, and ocean acidification.
“By the year 2030, this figure could be 90 percent,
And by 2050, all of our coral reefs, could be dead.”
‘Reefs at Risk, Revisited’
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