08.07.06
Devolution of the Ocean
Check out this story at the latimes.com about the destruction of the ocean ecosystem. Its a decently long and extensive article. Basically it talks about how man has been harvesting the sea, starting with fishing and then working his way down the food chain, coupled with pollution, waste, and run-off is altering the delicate balance of the ocean’s ecosystems.
In many places — the atolls of the Pacific, the shrimp beds of the Eastern Seaboard, the fiords of Norway — some of the most advanced forms of ocean life are struggling to survive while the most primitive are thriving and spreading. Fish, corals and marine mammals are dying while algae, bacteria and jellyfish are growing unchecked. Where this pattern is most pronounced, scientists evoke a scenario of evolution running in reverse, returning to the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago.
To some this may be nothing new; to others this may be the much needed wake up call. Now I wonder if people are actually aware of the extent of what is happening. When you take this as part of the larger whole, you’ll see that between global warming, the growing energy crisis, and the destruction of the environment (deforestation, pollution of lakes, rivers, and oceans), that we are moving down a path it may take hundreds of years, if not thousands, to recover from. The sad thing is that it is hard to quantify a problem like environmental extrenalities. How much would you pay to see crystal blue oceans? How about clean air to breath?