I recently attended a conference for informal educators on climate literacy put on by AAAS.  The goal of the conference was to bring "together educators working in a wide range of informal science environments for a two-day professional development conference that focused exclusively on climate literacy in all of its dimensions and provided opportunities for informal science educators to interact on the topic of climate change with scientists, science media, and others who participated in the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting that immediately followed."  We had an opportunity to network with people all over the country that were working in the field of climate change education and communication, share expertise and hear from some of the experts in climate science and climate communication.

One of the speakers at the conference was Simon Donner, an assistant professor of Geography at the University of British Colombia.  Much of his research looks at the effects of climate change on coral reefs.  I had heard that this was an issue, but had not had an opportunity to hear an expert explain the problem before.  Key point of Dr. Donner's presentation included:

1)  Coral reefs are integral to the lives of the 430 million people that live within 50 km of them.

2)  Similar to the Arctic, coral reefs are "canaries in the climatic coal mine," as they are already showing the effects of climate change.

3)  The effects are being seen

a)  through ocean acidification which occurs because 1/3 of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans.  The carbon dioxide changes the chemical balance, which decreases the pH, which leads to a reduction in the skeletal growth of corals, and an increase in the actual dissolution of the skeleton.

b)  through what is called "coral bleaching" which occurs because of an increase in the ocean temperatures/  Coral has a symbiotic relationships with tiny organisms that live in their tissue.  These organisms provide them with much of their energy.  When the coral becomes stressed, it expels these organisms essentially becoming "bleached."  Coral reefs can remain alive in this state for some time, but will eventually die.

Donner's take message was that a "committed" warming and rise in Carbon dioxide poses a serious threat to the function of coral reef systems, that there may be a chance of some adaptation, but finally that,

Coral reefs are an example of why there is no point arguing between managing for resilience (adaptation) and reducting Greenhouse Gas Emissions (mitigation).

Read more on this at:

Maribo

NOAA Coral Reef Watch

OA policy summary