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Depressing. The government isn't remotely taking the ecology seriously enough, except where tourism is affected, and even then the mining/Adani is more importan

• xnx 6y ago
  If I understand correctly, the primary factor harming the corals is warmer ocean temperatures and ocean acidification. I'm not sure Australia has much influence over those.
  • jamil7 6y ago
    I think quite a lot of damage has also been done by runoff from agricultural grazing areas. But you're right the corals probably wouldn't have survived warming anyway. Perhaps the parent comment was making a reference to Australia's indirect impact on supplying a large amount of coal to the rest of the world. Australia also has a fairly high emissions per person for it's small population.
    • Sporktacular 6y ago
      That's right. The reefs were already under severe stress and agriculture policy and coastal development in general have pushed pushed it to the edge. They can't manage so much as a ban on oxybenzone-based sunscreens. And all that's before getting into coal lobbying and supply, watering down the Paris agreement while in Madrid. The Queensland government has always had to be dragged into the future kicking and screaming, but now the federal government is behind them too. Just depressing.
  • jandrese 6y ago
    The full throated support of the coal industry by the Australian government seems embarrassingly short-sighted.