 |
TODAY Wednesday 14 May 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
newsroom
|
TODAY Wednesday 14 May 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
TODAY IN THE WORLD: The Coral Reefs of the Sahara
Sometimes you come across a hypothesis about a particular environmental problem that is so dire and daunting that it's deeply attractive.
An example would be acid rain. When many of us non-scientist enviros first learned that smokestack and tailpipe emissions in Ohio were said to be responsible for PH imbalances that killed fish in northern Maine, we were almost delighted. See? See how everything's connected? You and your goddam pollution.
Or DDT. That Inuits in Greenland are among the most toxified victims of spraying DDT to suppress malaria in the tropics, or that songbirds in Virginia are today still contaminated with DDT decades after its banning -- these are terrible truths, but attractive, too. Rachel Carson was right, we remind ourselves; we are vigilant, not hysterical.
Another such hypothesis surfaced yesterday in the electronic pages of Greenwire. A researcher in Florida by the name of Gene Shinn believes he has accumulated evidence that connects the dramatic degradation of Caribbean coral reefs with dust storms in North Africa. Those storms, in turn, are part of a larger trend brought on by desertification which, in turn, is at least partially attributable to human activities, prime among them grazing and firewood-gathering.
Shinn says that his first hypothesis was that the Caribbean reefs were suffering because of local sewage. But then he found that coral "on little islands where nobody lives" were infected with the same diseases as corals near densely-populated islands.
He then noticed an interesting coincidence. As desertification in North Africa gained momentum in the early 1970s, scientific stations in the Caribbean started recording large increases in the levels of airborne dust. This was exactly the time when marine scientists were beginning to document a wave of coral disease outbreaks. The year dust levels reached their peak -- 1987 -- was the year that the reefs turned a bleached white. Since the dust is high in African iron, since iron promotes algal growth, and since an overload of algae damages coral reefs, Shinn hypothesizes that the biggest factor in Caribbean reef decline is the loss of trees and grasses in Chad, Mali, and other countries bordering on the imperialist Sahara.
It's plausible, it's elegant, it's ecological and it's frightening. It is also yet another hypothesis to support the overall sense of a global crisis in which the lives and fortunes of men and women in remote places claim not only our sympathy but our deep self-interest.
TODAY ON THE SITE
Rarely at a loss, this Website comes already equipped with a starter course in coral reefs. Mary K. Miller, a Senior Writer at San Francisco's Exploratorium, has written a High Fives on the subject. Snorkel and fins optional.
5/13: (Life Before) Death and Taxes
5/12: Kids
5/09: Free Trade and Hormones
5/08: Sherry Boehlert, Republican
5/07: Fort Davis, West Texas
5/06: Europe (yawn)
5/05: Divorce, Mothers, Equality
5/02: Killer Grannies and the Highway Bill
5/01: China
4/30: Pity the Mangrove
4/29: Grizzlies off Battery Park
4/28: Mighty Monsanto
4/25: Growth
4/24: Refrigerator Wars
4/23: The Day the Earth Day Stood Still
4/22: Doorman Ecology
4/21: Toyota Steps Out
4/18: Victims of Extremism
4/17: Our White Guy Problem
4/16: Coca-Cola and the Merrit Parkway