Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Mass Extinction of Ocean Species Soon to Be 'Inevitable'

COMMENT:
While there is shock about this latest data, the drilling permits in the gulf coast continue....one of the most recent, to Royal Dutch Shell.

Perhaps it is time for an Environmental Movement!



LONDON, UK, June 21, 2011 (ENS) - The oceans are at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history, a panel of international marine experts warns in a report released today.

A deadly trio of factors - warming, acidification and lack of oxygen - is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth's history, the panel warned.
Sunset at Huntington Beach, California (Photo by DHN)

The combined effects of these stressors are causing degeneration in the ocean that is "far faster than anyone has predicted," the scientists report.

The urgent warnings emerged from the first-ever interdisciplinary international workshop held April 11-13 to consider the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean.

"The findings are shocking," said Dr. Alex Rogers, scientific director of the International Programme on the State of the Ocean which convened the workshop. "As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean, the implications became far worse than we had individually realized."...continued.....