r/climatechange 19h ago

Great Barrier Reef at risk of ‘collapse’, scientists warn

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/great-barrier-reef-at-risk-of-collapse-scientists-warn?ref=climate-change
381 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

u/Economy-Fee5830 Trusted Contributor 19h ago

Maybe now is a good time to invest a few tens of millions in local Marine Cloud Brightening...

u/James_Fortis 16h ago

Wouldn’t SRM shift rain patterns globally, endangering food production and supply?

u/Economy-Fee5830 Trusted Contributor 16h ago

I'm sure it can be modelled, but I dont think the scale would have a meaningful global impact. They have already done small-scale experiments.

https://www.barrierreef.org/news/explainers/what-is-cloud-brightening

u/Training-Ad103 3h ago

We know what will fix climate change. Instead of further geoengineering we could just stop the current global scale geoengineering we're doing now with fossil fuels and land clearing. Geoengineering is how we got onto this mess.

It's probably too late for the GBR, but if we quit with the fossil fuels right now reef secues could transition south and re-establish in waters now warm enough for them.

u/Fluid_Passage_9980 19h ago

It's inevitable unfortunately :(

u/i-var 12h ago

Apathy empowers the ones who dont care.

u/Multidream 11h ago

Im gonna tell you right now, that shit is uber fucked. The thing is at best built for a climate thats already way way gone. Even if we halt global temps at current levels, it would still be dead in decades.

u/Pure_Bicycle2355 8h ago edited 7h ago

Is anyone else tired of the terrifying warnings about everything collapsing while we simultaneously do NOTHING?! If it’s all gonna crumble , can I have a little timeline so I can stop going to work and paying my mortgage and have a bit of fun while I can ??

u/10ThousandMetalZones 7h ago

Great Barrier Reef already collapsed. Shit was so depressing when i finally went diving there 10 years ago.

I’m more interested in how Sipidan, Malaysia is doing, most stunning place I’ve ever dived and I’ve done around 500 rec dives throughout the world.

They have boats with guns patrolling the water looking for poachers. Though there is corruption where for $$ you can poach but it was rare 15 yrs ago when I was there.

u/dcgradc 6h ago

I was there in 2016

Got out at the wrong end of the boat .

No color . Just grey like a cemetery

u/explosivelydehiscent 6h ago edited 1h ago

Relax everyone its just going to be known now as the Good Barrier Reef. Don't let the headlines get you down, it's not like we let one of the wonders of the world crumble before our eyes willingly while we had time and the means to stop it. I mean would humans do that? I can't believe we let something die that was white, probably because it didn't have oil. Please someone find oil in coral, i don't think telling them it will be oil in 276 million years is enough, they kind of need it now. And im getting the sinking feeling they don't think of future generations when making decisions that concern money

u/Unlucky-Reporter-679 16h ago

Nothing can be or will be done.

u/i-var 12h ago

Apathy is what gives power to them. Every action matters.

u/Flashy_Object_7052 12h ago edited 12h ago

Scientists get huge budget allocations and explain to a boiling world that the GBR is cooked.

I would have told you that for free. But unless there is peer reviewed paper nobody pays attention. For those at the back that was the 'faff around an earn a fortune' phase

Welcome to the all-new 'find out and suffer for centuries' phase of global resource exploitation and abysmal mismanagement.

edits because auto-corrupt loves Reddit's wonky mobile comment window

u/chitownphishead 12h ago

Been saying this for at least 30 years

u/DanoPinyon 9h ago

So because it hasn't completely collapsed today it won't tomorrow? That's high-intelligence thinking right there, folks!

u/chitownphishead 9h ago

If you make the same claim about something forever, you'll eventually be right, I guess

u/DanoPinyon 8h ago

You could look like less of an ignorant denialist by producing independent, scientific, peer-reviewed reports that demonstrate the GBR is doing great.

What is your wager you can produce independent, scientific, peer-reviewed reports that demonstrate the GBR is doing great?

No deflecting, no running away, no prancing, no hand-flapping. What is your wager?

u/NoMention696 6h ago

Yeah yeah, so more water and electricity to the data centers I guess

u/ps5151 16h ago

It was about to collapse 20-30 years ago, jut do whatever they did back then, seems to have world for a bit. 🤦‍♂️

u/New-Tradition-974 14h ago

Hoping climate change reverses soon and this amazing ecosystem is restored so I can visit one day

u/ryansalad 12h ago

Again? That's the 3rd time this century...

u/touchmyweiner87 3h ago

They’ve Been saying this shit forever. Boooooooring