Actress Hears Of Pacific Climate Impacts First-Hand
Australian-born star of the Whale Rider film, Keisha Castle-Hughes, was in the Cook Islands aboard Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, over the weekend. She spoke with local activists about the impacts of climate change on the Islands.
Kia Orana koutou katoatoa,
Aitutaki is beautiful, the people are friendly and the land is plentiful. I would go as far to call it Paradise on Earth. Seeing the effects of climate change and knowing there’s a possibility that the land could possibly be ruined someday is devastating.
This morning the school children I met yesterday came down to the wharf and gifted us with fresh bananas, lemons, paw-paw and coconut for the ship’s voyage on to Samoa. You know you’re loved in The Cooks when you’re constantly fed! One of the young boys tried to teach me how to climb a coconut tree; unfortunately I was useless at it but he got right to the top, kicked down the coconuts, slid down the tree like it was a fire pole and husked the coconut. It was beautiful; there is something very special about eating straight from the land.
Richard Story, the spokesman for the Ministry of Marine Resources took us out on his boat to see bleached coral in the lagoon. Bleached coral is a huge impact of climate change, here in Aitutaki especially. The coral heads in the lagoon act as a food source and shelter for fish; when the coral heads die due to bleaching because of rising sea temperatures, algae grows, which then causes what’s known as Ciguatera Poisoning. Unfortunately the fish still feed off the dead coral heads and in turn get poisoned. Then when THEY’RE caught, they pass the poison onto those who consume the fish. Richard has had a colleague’s wife pass away from Ciguatera Poisoning and has been poisoned himself more than two dozen times. It affects the nervous system permanently.
It was actually kind of sad out there in the reef, because what we were looking at was degradation…largely due to climate change.
The Pacific Island Forum in Cairns in August is a fabulous opportunity for global leaders of developed countries to agree to do their bit for those in the Pacific. All we’ve got to do is agree to at least a 40% greenhouse emissions reduction by 2020. Yes, this is difficult but it’s not impossible. And the time to do it is now, otherwise we truly risk losing these beautiful places and resources.
Overall today has been a huge day of reflection for me. I love the people here, they are friendly, warm-hearted and more than welcoming; they feed you, offer you rides and are always willing to fill up your itinerary. The people here are not victims, they live harmoniously with the land. They are, however, aware of the effects around them and would like to see change for the better. We are here to offer a mega-phone for their voices to be heard and I believe we have achieved that here in The Cooks.
Final day in The Cooks tomorrow! Check in for a final (and probably quite emotional) last blog.
Love & light -
Keisha x
June 30th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
“The coral heads in the lagoon act as a food source and shelter for fish; when the coral heads die due to bleaching because of rising sea temperatures, algae grows, which then causes what’s known as Ciguatera Poisoning.”
Has anyone actually measured the rising sea temperature at the reef you are discussing? I’d like to view the peer reviewed research paper that demonstrates it is rising sea temperatures at that particular reef.
If there is no credible research, how do you know that rising sea temperatures are the cause of this particular reef’s problem?
I’d like to take your word for it, but I’ve read so much false information about doomed coral reefs that I can no longer take anything for granted.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hi Steve
Take a read of the latest blog post from our blogger, Simon:
http://www.greenpeace.org.au/blog/energy/?p=590
June 30th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Thanks Darren, but Simon’s post doesn’t address sea temperature measurements at Aitutaki reef.
If an assertion is made about cause and effect, I like to see the evidence of the link that the statement is based on, to confirm that the assertion is not simply anecdotal.
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:20 am
Hi Steve,
I’d like to take your word for the fact that you’d like to take Greenpeace’s word for what they’re saying, but could you please produce a peer-reviewed paper that demonstrates that you are indeed interested in taking this word?
I’m concerned that without documentation that has won awards for journalism in Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the American Academy of Science, as well as being certified by the United Nations Secretary General, I can’t believe that you’re actually prepared to accept the facts that are presented in these original posts and testimony from folks such as in this post.
Please present this immediately, in the spirit of constructive dialogue.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Thanks Liam for your constructive input.
It’s good to see people vigorously defend a position against those who ask questions in order to understand the issue more completely and would, if the evidence is sound, accept valid assertions.
Appeals to authority don’t appeal to me nor does anecdotal ‘evidence’. Proving the assertion that climate change is caused by human emissions of CO2 relies on testable scientific evidence and not on anecdotes or ‘testimony’ as you describe it.
To date, there is some scientific scepticism about the assertion that human emissions are causing climate change and the IPCC has come in for some severe criticism. I don’t blindly accept the claims of those sceptical scientists (as reputable as they are). I’m asking questions and reading the literature myself to see which camp of scientists are most likely to be correct.
So far I haven’t made up my mind, hence my requests for reference material from those at the forefront of the discussion who make confident statements about the cause of certain environmental events. That the solid evidence for human induced climate change is not forthcoming (and hasn’t been for 30 years I’ve been watching the discussion) only fuels my scepticism as do, might I say, ad hominem attacks.
My original question: has anyone measured the temperature of sea water around the reefs in question, still stands.
July 17th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
What you should be happening have is reputable marine scientists taking samples of the water near the dead coral and samples of the dead coral, find out the ph balance of the water also and what else are the chemical components of that sea water. Observation then analyse.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Well said Tracy. I agree. Historical data are also required, otherwise we don’t know what changes have been occurring, if any. Data is everything, all else is conjecture, wishful thinking and spin, none of which helps the credibility of the people making the claims or the organisations they represent.