I would take a report in the Cairns post with a very small grain of salt
as I take reports etc from the CNN's and Sky's of the world - and let's not even mention Fox
Again I say - that the GBR is a nothingburger in the scheme of things - nothing but a sign of something at best
any change should be noted - but, to be greatly concerned at any particular sign - it's the bigger picture that's going to be more important
it seems clear that the reefs are changing and changing quickly - that's alarming - but, more so than for the reefs - what it might mean is far more important
there is a huge cluster of signs all over the world - and that is the concern - what does the cluster of signs mean
the same as what does a cluster of signs and symptoms in an animal mean? -------- what it leads to is diagnosis
as I said - the reef - if it dies, it's dead. And that's about it for the reef and the life that dwells on it and what that goes on to affect -
but, it's not, as far as I know - a critical part of a triggering of a planetary response - and the biggest risk to humans of all is -------- if the planet responds in a rapid way and in a way that outpaces our ability to adapt
so, to me - things like ocean currents are a huge deal ------------ go look at some of the wonderful imagary we now have of earth and see the cloud formations which show us weather movement on the planet - it's impressive
but, what it should also tell us is that - the same kind of movements are happening under the surface of the oceans - which cover 2/3 rds of our planet - and both currents and wind drive climate - and weather
if we get major changes in any of that - and, particularly rapid changes - then, there is going to be a lot of adaptation required to survive - there always has been.
Is the change rapid? yep - solid evidence there. What happens if something like the AMOC stalls - hmmm, well - things change really really really fast then - big things - things that drive humans from somewhere to somewhere else
and today, as opposed to a hundred thousand years back ------------ let's say that - it's a very different story
back only tens of thousands of years - we could just walk away from the humpy - head to higher ground or a warmer place - build a new humpy, light a fire and that's it - done and dusted, on with life we go
now ---------- not so easy, mega cities on the coastlines, power dependent and connection dependant societies - of BILLIONS of people
