CORAL BLEACHING - WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!

HI Steemians,
It’s currently 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit). That is HOTTTT!!! On days like this i just want to sit back, relax under an air con and eat some icecream. Sadly, my days cannot afford to be that unproductive, I still have a lot to do. Here I am, perspiring out of every single pore of my body whilst completing work that I put off doing from last year. So I decided since it is so hot here in Australia, I wanted to raise an issue about global warming here.

The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia is home to the largest variety of marine life. This biodiverse environment contains an extremely large range of fish, mollusks, turtles, crocodiles, birds and seagrass. This ecosystem is made up of numerous smaller reefs, one of which is the coral reef. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system with more than 400 species of coral.

BUT……

Human involvement in the world has changed the Great Barrier Reef drastically. Coral bleaching occurs due to various stress factors. The primary cause is the global warming increase created by humans. The warming sea temperatures and rising sea levels are caused by the increase in carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Humans have negatively altered the coral reefs by their continuity to burn coal, oil and gas. This causes the temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef to rise by 1-2 degrees which is a major change to the coral reef system as the coral are sensitive, triggering bleaching. As the growing rate of carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere breaks down the ozone layer, the sea level rises causing the acidification of the ocean. In the Great Barrier Reef, the water becomes more acidic and the coral dissolves as they become unable to absorb calcium. Thus, humans have impacted the physical environment of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef, causing almost all of the corals in the reef to be several damaged. Some of these species have already died out. Only 7% hasn't been bleached YET. And it’s only a matter of time before it does so.

The Great Barrier Reef is just a small portion of the world’s environment. There are other ecosystems that are unsustainable due to human impacts. It is important that we as humans change the way we utilise the physical environment and stop global warming.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you guys introduce some environmentally friendly daily habits into your lifestyle.

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