Climate Change Perspective from Neale Monks

Re  SAVING THE MOTHERSHIP by Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

Dear Editor:

I gather you've been getting a bit of flak on this article. I'm not an expert marine fishkeeper, but I am a geologist, and probably understand the science a bit better than the average reader, though the period of climate change that I studied was about 100 million years ago!

The article by Dr. Hoegh-Guldberg is a fair summary of what most oceanographers, climatologists and geologists have been saying for years. There may be debate about global warming among the public at large, but within the scientific community, the doubters are very much in the minority. Of course that doesn't mean those relatively few global warming nay-sayers are wrong, but it certainly seems that way.

I think it's great that you had Dr. Hoegh-Guldberg put his observations somewhere marine aquarists could read  them directly, and not through the spin of media agencies, lobby groups, or opportunistic politicians.

I know that it's always a challenge to balance the number of practical articles in a hobby magazine against the number of more scientific pieces. Whatever you do, someone will disappointed. For every disgruntled reader who just wants hands-on, hobby-focused features, there's doubtless another reader who's glad to have something that stretches his or her mind beyond the glass walls of their aquarium. Sometimes editors have to take a risk, and sometimes they judge their readership wrong. But only by trying out new things can magazines evolve and maintain their position in a marketplace crowded with free websites and online forums.

Sincerely,

Neale Monks, Ph.D.