Reef Madness

Scientists investigating the state of coral reefs have discovered that some are doing better than expected despite the best efforts of entrepreneurs and wealth creators; while others are doing worse than expected despite being located in relatively remote and undisturbed places. The surveyors' conclusion is that reefs are better able to stand the pressures of modern living where nearby populations have a high stake in maintaining the stability of the environment, and when the locals have a large say in how their environments are managed. Fish stocks are worst where there is an industrial rate of netting and where freezers can be conveniently used for storage. Saving the reefs and their dependent organisms, including various human expendables, is therefore a simple matter of going against the dominant religion's most fundamental decrees, which specify that the financial interests of large corporations are paramount in all circumstances and that the planet's resources are owned by those who can profit by them and not by those who depend on them. It looks, therefore, as if we will just have to do without the reefs.