Secore

(SExual Coral REproduction)

We attended a lecture at the Conservation Research Center. Photographically it was a zero day. I went to work in the dark and the rain, I came home from work in the dark and the rain.

I did learn a lot about corals.

Coral species migrate due to ocean currents however there are many geographic barriers to migration that cause genetic isolation of species. Elkhorn and Staghorn corals in the Carribean are endangered due to many causes, especially pollution, global warming and declining ocean pH. Secore is an attempt to capture Elkhorn coral gametes during their sexual bloom (which occurs annually in August) and subsequently grow coral colonies in a zoological setting in the hopes of future preservation of species.

Attending these Wednesday evening lectures on preservation of species is rather depressing. Though I am pleased with our scientific efforts to preserve endangered species through freezing gametes in liquid nitrogen and preserve colonies in zoos, I feel as if it is too little too late.

In the news today I read complaints about a slowdown in the global and national economy and our declining "wealth". I think we need a complete reevalaution of what we think precious. We are destroying our Earth now, and we must change who we are and what we do now. The only way to save our planet is a massive effort to decrease our CO2 emissions, conserve habitats, and stop pollution. Any economic acceleration must be achieved only through clean and renewable technologies, and every economic accounting must include an honest ecologic and environmental accounting, with environmental conservation placed as the primary (not tertiary) factor in any calculations.