• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Coral Cannot be at Record Levels – That is Not What Sir David Attenborough Told Me

by Chris Morrison
6 August 2022 9:00 AM

You would have to have a heart of stone not to chuckle at the coral contortions endured by many journalists as they wrote through gritted keyboards that the little critters are growing back in record numbers on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The initial reaction seems to have been one of shock. It cannot be true – Sir David Attenborough had assured us that the GBR was in “grave danger” of disappearing within decades because of climate change. Far from disappearing, the coral is now at its highest cover level since reef-wide monitoring began 36 years ago.

The news has yet to feature on the BBC climate page. The Corporation employs numerous environment correspondents, but the only report on its news site had a Sydney, Australia byline and appeared on the general science page. Curiously there was a similar absence of reporting earlier this year, when it was learnt that the South Pole had recently had its coldest six month winter since records began.

For the last three days, the BBC has been leading its climate coverage with a pile of emotional tosh arguing that scientists are not taking seriously enough the possibility of catastrophic climate change outcomes, “including human extinction”. According to the lead author, an international relations specialist, the “closest attempts”  to address this have come from popular science books such as The Uninhabitable Earth, “and not from mainstream science research”. This last remark prompted the science writer Jo Nova to comment: “Essentially they are telling us we need to panic because there are no scientific papers telling us to panic.”

I digress, back to actual science and the coral reefs. Much of the mainstream commentary picked up on the steer from the Australian Institute for Marine Science (AIMS) that growth had come from the faster-growing corals. One might well comment, it would, wouldn’t it. In addition, there have been further outbreaks of bleaching. Again, the science writer Jo Nova notes that bleaching has probably occurred for millions of years, “there were just not many scuba divers to record it”. We ought to be shocked if corals did not have a full toolkit to cope with rapid changes, she said. She added that this latest 2021/22 study from AIMS, “was an absolute blockbuster in terms of busting the myth that corals are on the verge of extinction”.

Reef expert Peter Ridd said the GBR has proven to be a vibrant and healthy ecosystem. This should not be a surprise, he noted, since there are few human pressures on the reef, and it is well protected. “It is also unreasonable to expect that the small temperature rise over the last century (1°C) will have caused much impact, especially as it is well known that most corals grow faster in warmer waters,” he added.

In his view, the AIMS data show the reef is a robust system with rapidly fluctuating coral cover. We must expect coral cover to fall sometime in the future. In a comment, perhaps aimed at Attenborough, he said we should remember, “it is almost certainly natural, and not allow the merchants of doom to depress the children”.

Peter Ridd is a physicist and has researched the GBR since 1984. He was the former head of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Queensland. In 2018 he was fired for pointing out quality assurance deficiencies in reef-science institutions. In a recent note published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation he charged that over the last few years, AIMS “has effectively hidden the good news on coral cover”. Much of the recent doomsday coral copy from journalists would appear to reflect this agenda.

From 2017, AIMS stopped publishing the average coral cover for the GBR, and only issued disaggregated figures for three sectors, northern, central and southern. But figures are available, and Ridd has compiled the above graph for aggregated coral cover over the entire reef. He uses AIMS figures for 1986-2017, and his own from 2017. It shows in a dramatic fashion the spectacular growth since the low point around 2016, when the reef was badly affected by natural depredations arising from a powerful El Niño event. Coral reefs are home to many species and AIMS defines 30-50% cover as a ‘high value’ based on historical surveys. Ridd reports that current cover is almost 34%, with a small margin of error. In his view, only by seeing all the data aggregated for the entire reef can the “exceptional” state of the coral be appreciated. Ridd feels it is “surprising” that AIMS no longer provides an average coral cover for the entire GBR, because it had previously made far reaching claims about the poor state based on reef-wide average data.

In fact he went on to note that when coral cover hit a low point around 10% in 2011 after being devastated by major cyclones, AIMS authors, in a paper widely quoted in the media, said “coral cover in the central and southern regions of the GBR is likely to decline to 5-10% by 2022”.

Ridd concludes that by no longer publishing an average figure for the entire reef, AIMS “has obscured the good news for 2022, and drawn a veil over their inaccurate prediction of a decade ago”.

Polar bears increasing, forests of coral springing up, global warming not happening, even Arctic ice seems to be making a small comeback. Is there no end to all this bad news for green agenda-driven journalists?

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.

Tags: AustraliaBBCClimate AlarmismClimate JournalismDavid AttenboroughGreat Barrier ReefPeter RiddPropaganda

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Vaccine Deaths Outnumber Covid Deaths in U.S. Households, Two New Polls Confirm

Next Post

NHS Patients Unable to Obtain Emergency Medication as Cyberattack Triggers Computer Failure

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

19 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Tom Blackburn
Tom Blackburn
3 years ago

https://www.foxnews.com/media/rand-paul-shreds-fauci-for-allegedly-lying-dozens-of-times-over-covid-19.amp

8
0
Catee
Catee
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Blackburn

I’m hoping he gets successfully prosecuted, he’s such a weasel I think he would ‘sing’ like canary. However I suspect the two most likely scenarios will be a failure to successfully prosecute due to a ‘bought’ judiciary or Dr Fauci may just succumb to covid.

Last edited 3 years ago by Catee
8
0
Jon Mors
Jon Mors
3 years ago
Reply to  Catee

Or ‘suicide’ from a bullet wound to the back of the head.

More seriously, even if this is taken further a milque-toast resolution is inevitable. Absolute best case scenario would be a resignation. If he had any sense he’d resign now, but people like him are too hubristic for this.

3
0
mwhite
mwhite
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Blackburn

Sky News Australia, right from the beginning

Taxpayer funded experiments in Chinese labs ‘far more extensive’ than first thought – YouTube

Paid for by the American tax payer.

0
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  mwhite

So was/is Dr David Martin, right the way back to 2000 and beyond.

0
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  Tom Blackburn

I await the next edition of the Highwire – DB must think Fauci is the gift that keeps on giving…

Last edited 3 years ago by 186NO
0
0
Major Panic in the jabby jabbys
Major Panic in the jabby jabbys
3 years ago

If a group of people base their theories on what ever is the opposite of what there ‘enemys’ theories are, ignoring inconvenient reality or evidence, surely that is a cult – people with these thought processes can not be persuaded with logic as they are illogical.

8
0
Mark
Mark
3 years ago
Reply to  Major Panic in the jabby jabbys

Broadly it’s the US “Orange Man Bad” cult that has driven a lot of the most disastrous events of the past 18 months, at least as they’ve manifested within the US sphere.

Now they are having to look around for other things to blame, to divert attention from the obviously senile, corrupt incompetence of the cipher they appointed to replace the Orange Man.

15
0
Sandra Barwick
Sandra Barwick
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Much worse than that. They are devoted to a Marxist agenda with levels of ruthless control shared with Fascism.

7
0
Sandra Barwick
Sandra Barwick
3 years ago

Wrong headline. “Left wing media ignore “lab leak” evidence”

19
0
FrankFisher
FrankFisher
3 years ago
Reply to  Sandra Barwick

Not just ignore, actively colluding with social media to suppress via censorship, and sneer via “fact checking” that is nothing of the sort

17
0
Nigel Sherratt
Nigel Sherratt
3 years ago

China is not the enemy of the Overclass the 0.1% who who make fortunes from collaborating with the transnational criminal organisation the CCP. Biden is a bought and paid for lackey of the Overclass. MSM outfits are their ‘lickspittle capitalist running dogs’.

6
0
kaya3
kaya3
3 years ago
Reply to  Nigel Sherratt

This is one of the best videos you will see relative to the topic. This is all about the implosion of the financial industry that should have happened 11 years or more ago.

https://odysee.com/@LongXXvids:c/Ernst-Wolf-speech—summary:3

1
0
FrankFisher
FrankFisher
3 years ago

“right wing” = “not actively stalinist”

14
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago

The evidence for a lab-leak is overwhelming but left leaning sources are much more likely to cover it up. I didn’t realise till today that the Daily Sceptic discounted right-wing sources, on the basis of being right wing. What’s going on? 900 pages of data implicating Fauci in Wuhan gain of function experiments were released yesterday – this is not left or right wing information, it is just information, so why isn’t the Daily Sceptic covering it? The Daily Sceptic presents itself as a refuge against left wing “woke” politics so who is Noah Carl trying to impress? This is one of the oddest articles I have ever read: it might even seem odd in the Guardian.

Last edited 3 years ago by PhantomOfLiberty
9
0
RickH
RickH
3 years ago

Mickey mouse analysis : “the left’s dislike for the lab leak”.

The right didn’t like it much either, and in fact the worn-out political definitions don’t work in any of this. The underlying problem for Covid proponents is that it puts human agency centre stage in this ‘terrifying’ phenomenon. Much better if totally unpredictable, and naturally induced at random.

Of course, identifying US Democrats as ‘left’ in any meaningful sense is also nonsense – they are part of the corporate duality.

Last edited 3 years ago by RickH
6
-5
Moist Von Lipwig
Moist Von Lipwig
3 years ago
Reply to  RickH

They are extremely left and state intervention in the economy is always leftist, no matter who the recipient is.

4
-2
RW
RW
3 years ago
Reply to  Moist Von Lipwig

Congratulations. You’ve just defined the Europe of absolute monarchy and a lot of common economic practice up to 1945 as leftist (whatever). Eg, agricultural protectionism to support the landed gentry.

Last edited 3 years ago by RW
0
-2
Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  RickH

Are republicans “left wing” – or does it depend what country they’re in?

0
0
CynicalRealist
CynicalRealist
3 years ago

Even if it is true (which seems fairly likely), chances are there will never be any actual confirmation one way or the other – to many people (including governments) have too much to lose to allow it.

3
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

The evidence is already overwhelming – thousands of pages of it. The fact that governments and even the Daily Sceptic are playing cat and mouse over admitting it has nothing to do with “confirmation”, the documents exist confirming it and the cover up, which for some reason the Sceptic seems to be participating in.

5
0
GlassHalfFull
GlassHalfFull
3 years ago

“Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable,” the letter said.
There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest a third theory that rogue elements of the US deliberately released the virus to harm China and Iran and didn’t realize it would spread around the world.
https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-the-covid-epidemic-as-lab-leak-or-biowarfare/

1
-1
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

You would thing that it would be highly unlikely that they would not realise that it would spread to them. However, given their earlier experience with producing weaponised computer viruses, I can certainly see how they might ignore it…

1
-1
Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Why on Earth wo wouldn’t they realise it would spread round the world? I thought that’s what viruses do in these interconnected times (though admittedly there were Chinese in Britain over a thousand years ago).

1
-2
GlassHalfFull
GlassHalfFull
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

They assumed it would be similar to SARS and mostly stay at the point of first infection.

0
-1
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Nope, it was deliberate:

This is another “bombshell” moment folks and Messr Daszak and Fauci would appear to be in very deep shit….

“Surprise Surprise – Fauci Lied Again”: Rand Paul Reacts To Wuhan Bombshell | ZeroHedge

0
0
Skeptical_Stu
Skeptical_Stu
3 years ago
Reply to  GlassHalfFull

Or a 4th theory that the virus was deliberately ‘leaked’ with the full knowledge it would indeed spread around the world.

The way the whole affair has been handled has given rise to many wealthy vested interests making great gains from this:

Big Pharma (Obviously)
The banks (Money printing)
Big Business (decimation of small businesses)
Big government (massive power grabs)
The Democrats (rigged election)

You can also foresee a Chinese style credit system making its way here, and globally in the West. Cashless society etc.

Perhaps it is all about control, because that is exactly what it feels like. A mass psychosis has been blanketed on the public using fear as the main driver. The governments, media and the people all ignore real world data and focus on the fearmongering. And that has been done for a reason. It certainly isn’t for as something as pathetic as SARS-CoV2.

1
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago

WHY DOESN’T THE DAILY SCEPTIC ADDRESS THE MASSIVE BODY OF EVIDENCE RELATING TO FAUCI, GAIN OF FUNCTION EXPERIMENTATION AND THE WUHAN LAB, INSTEAD OF PRODUCING THIS NONSENSE FROM NZ WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY NOT WORTH READING IN FULL???

8
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  PhantomOfLiberty

Long thought TY & co should provide links to this evidence ……very very difficult for Fauci and by association all those named in these and other emails to avoid investigation: Drosten, Zhengli, Farrar, Vallance ( YEP VALLANCE) Daszak..but then if the “Judiciary” are onside it won’t happen this side of civil war.

0
0
Jon Mors
Jon Mors
3 years ago

I think the DS should ask itself what the average Guardian reader would assume about the content of the article, based on the headline. It is all to obvious that they would assume that the lab leak theory was a conspiracy theory, and that it was being promulgated by right wing media like the Telegraph (lol).

“Left wing media suppress lab leak evidence. Conservative leaning media does not”. There you go, fixed it for you. That might even work for the average Tory voter.

4
0
Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Jon Mors

The Telegraph that was a Liberal party supporting newspaper until it fell out with them over Turkey (or was it Ireland?) and now supports the liberal “not the Conservative party”?

I think the Morning Post was a bit more right of centre, though I’m not sure how it ended up when the Telegraph took over (Lord Deedes worked for both papers).

1
0
Manjushri
Manjushri
3 years ago

Thats so funny to think of this military grade pathogen being deployed from a bat lab in China….a brilliant red-herring cover story 😊

1
-1
Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago

…….the man’s critics (of whom there are plenty in the mainstream media) ……..

…the man’s critics (who ARE the mainstream media) ….

There. Fixed that for you…

0
0
Skeptical_Stu
Skeptical_Stu
3 years ago

Personally, I think the ‘lab leak theory’ is the acceptable ‘conspiracy theory’.

This has been too well planned, with many many vested interested making gains on it for it to be an accidental leak. I am not disputing the game of function research etc, but this is most certainly deliberate.

2
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  Skeptical_Stu

Good point

0
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  Skeptical_Stu

US labs at BSL 4 were stopped doing, for a while, GoF research in/around 2014; Wuhan lab finished with French lab assistance in …late 2014, with BSL2,3 and 4 capacity.

Leaks have happened before; agree GoF is a sustained deliberate tranche of research and US /China ( UK to at P.Down) regarding Coronaviruses back to 1990and before ( Follow the Patent trail set out by Dr David Martin ….very damning).

Fauci has lied serially about GoF before, during and after the US moratorium. Dr Martin has very clearly stated that he has supplied US Intelligence agencies with his information from 2000 or so onwards. Why have “they ” not acted on it – how has this man been allowed to continue “in post” when he has questions to answer about HIV/AIDS/Remdesivir…?

0
0
Pavlov Bellwether
Pavlov Bellwether
3 years ago

My first hearing of this ‘theory’ was from a respected pharmacologist who had the information direct from the ‘source’. All else is theatre and piffle. The law is still on our side. The truth will win. The liars will be held to account. Fight back on an individual level. Others will follow. Useful information, resources and links: https://www.LCAHub.org/

6
0
Pavlov Bellwether
Pavlov Bellwether
3 years ago
Reply to  Pavlov Bellwether

The theory I heard was approximately 18 months ago by the way… at the very start of this masquerade…

2
0
PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  Pavlov Bellwether

Yes, Fauci called a meeting 1 February 2020 with Farrar and others, notably Patrick Vallance, to discuss how they were going to dispel the rumours. This article still seems to be doing it: a sociologist’s manoeuvre – instead of checking the evidence for the story you categorise the kind of people who believe it.

1
0
186NO
186NO
3 years ago
Reply to  PhantomOfLiberty

How many times has Vallance confirmed he has an ethical Conflict of Interest due to his prior knowledge and therefore involvement in GoF, chimerically derived SARS COV2 ….

0
0
tom171uk
tom171uk
3 years ago

Four legs good. Two legs bad. Masks good. No masks bad. (Have you seen the pathetic sheep on the opposition benches in their ludicrous masks?)

They don’t think for themselves. The groupthink says that Trump is bad, everything he has ever said is bad, ipso facto non-Trump equals good. You can’t reason with nut jobs.

0
0
kaya3
kaya3
3 years ago

So left wing Intercept now releasing documents apparently showing Fauci lied? Is the bus coming and are they getting ready to throw him?

https://nypost.com/2021/09/07/wuhan-lab-documents-show-fauci-untruthful-about-research-critics/

0
0
Health Seeker
Health Seeker
3 years ago

It’s also worth noting that the zoonotic hypothesis suits those promoting eco-conciousness, as it the highlights the possibility that increasing encroachment on wildlife habitats may increase the spread of pathogens.

0
0
gedhurst
gedhurst
3 years ago

Look up ‘Trusted News Initiative’. Left leaning news outlets have banded together to agree not to report stuff which goes against the Fauci/CDC/Big Pharma narrative.

1
0
number 6
number 6
3 years ago

Ah!!!! The first politically active Virus. Will it succeed to get Trump back in the White House?

0
-1
Shirespeed
Shirespeed
3 years ago

Read this then tell me it wasn’t a lab leak.
https://nicholaswade.medium.com/origin-of-covid-following-the-clues-6f03564c038

Last edited 3 years ago by Shirespeed
1
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic | Episode 45: Jack Hadfield on the Anti-Asylum Protests, Alan Miller on the Tyranny of Digital ID and James Graham on the Net Zero Pension Threat

by Richard Eldred
25 July 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Death Throes of a Regime

25 July 2025
by Dr David McGrogan

News Round-Up

25 July 2025
by Richard Eldred

Half of Public Think Islam is Incompatible with British Values

25 July 2025
by Will Jones

Covid Vaccines Saved Far Fewer Lives Than Claimed by WHO, Major New Study Finds

25 July 2025
by Will Jones

Wind Power Price Soars 11% as Government’s Promise to Cut Bills by £300 Fails to Materialise

25 July 2025
by Ben Pile

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Death Throes of a Regime

24

White Britons Are Right to Resist Becoming a Minority

50

News Round-Up

20

Half of Public Think Islam is Incompatible with British Values

17

Covid Vaccines Saved Far Fewer Lives Than Claimed by WHO, Major New Study Finds

15

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Death Throes of a Regime

25 July 2025
by Dr David McGrogan

Wind Power Price Soars 11% as Government’s Promise to Cut Bills by £300 Fails to Materialise

25 July 2025
by Ben Pile

Report on Black Maternity Experiences Blames “Racism” Without Evidence

24 July 2025
by Dr Roger Watson

White Britons Are Right to Resist Becoming a Minority

24 July 2025
by Charlie Cole

Twice as Many People Work in Environment ‘Charities’ Than in Wind Power Generation: ONS Report Reveals Shocking Truth About UK’s ‘Green Jobs’

24 July 2025
by Chris Morrison

POSTS BY DATE

August 2022
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jul   Sep »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

August 2022
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jul   Sep »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Death Throes of a Regime

25 July 2025
by Dr David McGrogan

News Round-Up

25 July 2025
by Richard Eldred

Half of Public Think Islam is Incompatible with British Values

25 July 2025
by Will Jones

Covid Vaccines Saved Far Fewer Lives Than Claimed by WHO, Major New Study Finds

25 July 2025
by Will Jones

Wind Power Price Soars 11% as Government’s Promise to Cut Bills by £300 Fails to Materialise

25 July 2025
by Ben Pile

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Death Throes of a Regime

24

White Britons Are Right to Resist Becoming a Minority

50

News Round-Up

20

Half of Public Think Islam is Incompatible with British Values

17

Covid Vaccines Saved Far Fewer Lives Than Claimed by WHO, Major New Study Finds

15

Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Death Throes of a Regime

25 July 2025
by Dr David McGrogan

Wind Power Price Soars 11% as Government’s Promise to Cut Bills by £300 Fails to Materialise

25 July 2025
by Ben Pile

Report on Black Maternity Experiences Blames “Racism” Without Evidence

24 July 2025
by Dr Roger Watson

White Britons Are Right to Resist Becoming a Minority

24 July 2025
by Charlie Cole

Twice as Many People Work in Environment ‘Charities’ Than in Wind Power Generation: ONS Report Reveals Shocking Truth About UK’s ‘Green Jobs’

24 July 2025
by Chris Morrison

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences