As a child I was a curious little boy who had big plans to see the world. After seeing some documentary on Animal Planet I always wanted to make sure i needed to see 1 place, The Great Barrier Reef. At it’s prime, the reef stretched over 2,500 kilometers, contained almost 1,000 islands and can be seen from space as seen in the photo below from NASA.gov Then I read some terrible news this week. As I was scrolling through Facebook as someone my age often does I read an unfortunate headline regarding the death of The Great Barrier Reef due to climate change and honest to god I was angry that we can be such a selfish species to let one the most beautiful places that this earth has to offer disintegrate into oblivion. The Bleaching caused by climate change is so bad that over 90% of the individual reefs involved in what we know as the great barrier reef are being affected by the bleaching. According to this guardian articlein The Guardian Decomposing coral has lost its color and can no longer provide shelter for the fish that live in it. The WWF website explains that the reef is home to over 1,000 species of fish, hundreds of species of coral, over 100 species of sharks and rays, multiple species of rare marine turtles, and dozens of marine mammals. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living ecosystem in the world. Being as old as the reef is there is several indigenous groups that depend on the reef and have relationships with it. This Article explains the indigenous people from the area of the reef. The Aboriginal people are some of the oldest on the planet. They use the reef and its natural resources for years for their culture and livelihoods.
This CNN Article explains that soon after the reef was declared dead that the situation was over exaggerated. The danger that the reef is in trouble is completely true but it is not too late. The goal of the conservation efforts should not be to mourn the death of the great barrier reef, but to look to the future because it can be saved with conservation efforts. I hope that I do get there one day and it is as beautiful, colorful and alive as I remember it in that documentary that originally caught my attention and made me fall in love with it.
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF FROM SPACE
Bleaching in the Reef
I think that this is so sad. I have always thought that the great barrier reef is so beautiful and it is so sad to see it withering away. I think that social media has actually done a great job of spreading the word about this issue. I know that my Twitter feed has recently been filled with before and after pictures of the Reef, like seen in this tweet here https://twitter.com/bravosavannah/status/786776074160070656. I think that education and awareness is the first step into fixing this problem, and it is heartening to know that it is not too late.
Michael,
I find this to be a super interesting topic because the Reef is one of the greatest natural wonders in the world. I appreciated the way that you explained what the reef used to be and what it has now become, but I felt like a little more depth on what is causing it and how people are trying to prevent it would be helpful. For instance, I didn’t know what “bleaching” was so I looked it up. I think including a definition similar to the one at http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html would have gone a long way in helping readers understand what is happening here. Also, the part about the native people there depending on the reef was super interesting and I felt like you could have a whole section just explaining the impact of the reef truly dying would have on them