smh

The Australian government must act quickly to address global warming in order to protect the Great Barrier Reef, a leading coral scientist says.

Prof Pandolfi and a team of scientists travelled to Papua New Guinea and studied fossilised reefs to determine how often they were hit by major disasters.

The team found that over the 6,000 years recorded in the fossil strata, the reef had been devastated only four times - once every 1,500 years.

"Even if there had been one every 100 years it would have been in stark contrast to what we're seeing today, where we get several of these events per decade in some places around the world," he said.

Prof Pandolfi said the three major factors threatening reefs were over-harvesting of marine resources, pollution from coastal development and global warming.

"I think they are realising the fact the Great Barrier Reef alone generates $6 billion a year in tourism, and that's quite a substantial economic shot in the arm to both Queensland and to the whole country," he said.

It is disgraceful the way these corporations are allowed to hire biddable scientists, worse still that there are whores in white coats willing to take their money.

Another favourite trick is to 'astroturf', set up fake citizens organisations to shill for them. Gunns, the infamous napalmer of Old Growth Forests in Tasmania has set up just such an organisation claiming to represent the interests of forestry workers. In fact it parrots word for word the propaganda of the company. This is especially objectionable given the rate at which Gunns has been firing forestry workers over the last decade or so.

The activities of Exxon in Europe come as no surprise. Given that the laws are much stricter in Europe there is every hope that the outright bribery that passes for politics in the jaw-droppingly corrupt USA will be unable to take root there.

Whenever you come across a scientific study purporting to refute or minimise the existance of human-induced Global Warming our first question should be--who funded this so-called research?

Don't listen to any of their stories until you get a sensible answer. If it turns out it was an oil company or some front organisation then turn on your heel and go. One of their favourite tricks if to muddy the waters by making out that there is still some serious scientific dispute going on about the extent and causes of Global Warming. In fact there isn't. Ninety percent of scientist in the field after extensive research now conclude that Global Warming is real, dangerous and caused by humans.

The only holdouts are a small handful of perverse eccentrics and lackies of big corporations.

These characters should be rounded up and sent to some of the more low-lying Pacific Islands, or Bangladesh to prove with their own bodies their faith in their own muddled pronouncements.