I am devastated. Last week I learned the Great Barrier Reef in Australia had died. Last semester, I gave a speech in my class about the coral bleaching epidemic and the aerial survey of the reef that had been completed early this spring. It found that a many of the individual reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef experienced extreme coral bleaching, and there was to be another survey of reefs done in the water, with more conclusive evidence. The Great Barrier Reef has experienced mass bleaching events before, and this one seemed much, much worse, so expectations were grim. The good news, however, is that the "obituary" that had originally been published was slightly misinformed. I believe that it may have been a ploy to expel and extreme reaction from people, and hopefully to get them to see the errors in their ways so that we may keep the death of many many corals from occurring. According to several websites, including CNN, Huffington Post, and, possibly most importantly, The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, part of the Australian Government, the reef is not dead, yet.

The most important thing to remember is that bleached coral does not mean dead coral. The cause of coral bleaching is due to rising sea temperatures. The coral has a symbiotic relationship with algae called zooxanthellae. The algae give the coral their coloring, as well as about 90% of their energy. The relationship breaks down when the coral experience stress, which can be caused by rising sea temperatures. The temperature change only needs to be slight, as little as one degree Celsius, or about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit for about a month for stress and bleaching to begin. The rising sea temperatures are caused by global warming, or climate change, due to rising Carbon Dioxide levels.

The Australian government is making efforts to protect the reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the best-maintained reefs in the world. It is far from perfect and pristine, but with the cry of outrage that I saw when it was pronounced dead, I am hopeful that people will look into what they are doing to help stop global warming and protect not only the Great Barrier Reef, but all other reefs and fragile ecosystems on our planet.

There are many things that you can do to help if the news of a dead Great Barrier Reef caused you distress. If you want to help the Reef directly, you can donate money to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation here. You can also conserve water and do other things listed here to not only help the Reef, but other ecosystems.

As always, stay educated.