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The sunscreen that snorkelers, beachgoers and children romping in the waves lather on for protection is killing coral and reefs around the globe. And a new study finds that a single drop in a small area is all it takes for the chemicals in the lotion to mount an attack.
Not only did the study determine that a tiny amount of sunscreen is all it takes to begin damaging the delicate corals – the equivalent of a drop of water in a half-dozen Olympic-sized swimming pools – it documented three ways that the ingredient oxybenzone breaks the coral down, robbing it of life-giving nutrients and turning it ghostly white.
Adverse effects on coral started on with concentrations as low as 62 parts per trillion. Yet measurements of oxybenzone in seawater within coral reefs in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands found concentrations ranging from 800 parts per trillion to 1.4 parts per million. That's 12 times the concentrations needed to harm coral.
Oxybenzone is used in more than 3,500 sunscreen products worldwide. Common brands including Coppertone, Baby Blanket Faces, L'Oreal Paris, Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat all use the Oxy.
There are alternative sunscreens with no oxybenzone. The trouble is that nobody really knows about this threat to the reefs, and they take a fair bit of convincing.
This story appeared in the Portland Press Herald
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @01:41PM
I guess we've solved all the world's problems, which is why we're talking about THIS.
I just stayed up all night trying to get an Ubuntu box to boot properly after someone hosed some System D configuration file.
With System D out in the wild, I can hardly deem this article newsworthy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Thursday October 22 2015, @01:46PM
Whereas some of us have much broader interests.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @01:52PM
Whereas some of us have much broader interests.
A response straight out of the System D apologist playbook.
"Deflect, ridicule, ostracize. "
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:03PM
A response straight out of the System D apologist playbook.
"Deflect, ridicule, ostracize. "
Maybe the problem is you. Everyone else seems to like systemd ("NOT SYSTEM D") except on AC on some forgotten, ghost-shop news aggregator site.
You are the last of a dead breed.
Give it up.
The init wars are over, and you have lost. Your lack of perspective and constant whinging are not welcome here.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday October 22 2015, @03:50PM
I prefer OpenRC. Hell, I'd prefer a kooky makefile-based init I came up with some years ago just to see if I could make the idea work. (Think make -j10 runlevel5.)
Systemd, if I understand the capabilities it offers, might make sense for a smartphone, even a laptop. My server in the clouds and my gaming rig are neither. Also, I want Poettering-ware nowhere near my stuff. It amazes me how on earth PulseAudio is still in use when ALSA provides dmix right out of the box.
Oh, right, sunscreen. Every time I use the stuff it always makes me feel icky. I guess I'll just keep risking skin cancer. (Oh noes! Cancer! Tremble in terror! Aaaaaaa!)
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:04PM
There is more to life than systemd. TFA is about protecting coral and I have to applaud your attempt to introduce systemd into the discussion.
But, just for the record, I abhor systemd. However, I realise that I will have to understand it in order to maintain systems that use it. How many buggy whip shops are there in your town?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:06PM
However, I realise that I will have to understand it in order to maintain systems that use it. How many buggy whip shops are there in your town?
BURN! Mod this guy up (even though we're supposed to be talking about sunscreen, it's really should be pinned on the homepage).
System D is clearly 100X better than any greasy old init system you may still be clinging to. RedHat has won, and Lennart has won. You have lost, end of discussion. Evolution favors the System D.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:16PM
I guess that's what bill gates thought when they started using msoffice in schools.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:24PM
You still can't spell systemd properly. Your credibility to judge the validity of an init system is non existent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @02:15PM
You are wrestling with a pig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @03:10PM
You are wrestling with a pig.
Nah, janrinok is actually pretty cool if you check hir posting history.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @04:03PM
The whip shops in my town are completely bug-free! :-)
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday October 22 2015, @05:50PM
"Deflect, ridicule, ostracize. "
Well, we're certainly seeing the deflection (away from the environmental concern under discussion).
Sounds like the work of a different sort of apologist, though...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @03:58PM
I can see that as someone whose waking hours are at night, you'd have no use for sunscreen. Well, others are awake during the day. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @11:16PM
The 2015 version of antix (pronounced "Antiques") is antiX 15 "Killa P" and has been available since the end of June. [google.com]
It is compatible with Debian Testing repos. [google.com]
antiX has never shipped with systemd. SysVInit [google.com]
The antiX ISO still fits on a 700MB CD.
Why not give it a test drive--instead continuing to hit yourself in the head with that hammer just so that you can appreciate how good it feels when you stop?
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @12:51AM
This is about, you know, saving the fucking PLANET. Coral reefs are pretty important (and definitely qualify as one of 'the world's problems'.
Where are you going to boot Ubuntu when the planet becomes incapable of supporting human life?
But if you've been up all night, clearly you need some sleep. Go to bed and re-read your comment after you've had some rest.