On October 11th, 2016, The Outside published a controversial article written by Rowan Jacobsen about the “death” of the Great Barrier Reef. The article title: “Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016)”. This piece singlehandedly stimulated a chain reaction of alarm over the ever-famous Great Barrier Reef. With 900,000 shares and counting, the article has generated a wave of grief over one of the world’s most amazing natural phenomenon.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living thing on Earth. It is a 2,300km long ecosystem comprised of hundreds of islands and over 3,000 individual reefs systems. The reef is comprised of over 600 types of hard and soft coral as well as being home to countless species of fish, mollusk, starfish, turtles, dolphins and sharks. Despite what the rather contemptuous article states, scientists continuously say that although the coral reefs are under the most severe stress they have ever been under, the Great Barrier Reef has not passed away.
The “Obituary” for the Great Barrier Reef was not only distastefully written but it also downright misinformed the public. Coral bleaching occurs when water temperatures rise and raise the level of stress on the coral reef. The water temperatures cause the algae living in the coral’s tissue to expel leaving the coral white. Since 1998, three major bleaching events have affected the Great Barrier Reef.
Approximately “93% of reefs on the Great Barrier Reef have been hit by coral bleaching, according to a comprehensive survey revealing the full extent of the devastation caused by abnormally warm ocean temperatures sweeping the globe” as reported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
“When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality,” according National Ocean Service.
Although, the most recent bleaching has proved to be the most visibly destructive, the reefs have not yet completely succumbed to global warming.
It is not to be said the bleaching crisis should be overlooked rather, it should have be approached differently. Declaring the reef’s demise through an attempt of personification misrepresented the severity of the problem. Social media users read the shocking headline and chose to make a shallow assessment rather than seeking more information on the subject. This spread of false information stirred the conception that what is happening to our earth is hopeless and irreparable.
To an extent, most of the damage is permanent. The Great Barrier Reef has and still continues to experience cases of mortality, however, it is important to augment the resilience of the coral reef. For 25 million years, the reefs have naturally restored under alternate cases of extreme stress. With more than 2 million tourist visits each year, scientists, charities, as well as the government are working towards delivering aid to the struggling reef. Despite the objectionable statement by Jacobsen’s “Obituary” in which he places blame on the Australian government for pressuring the United Nations to remove the reef from a climate change report in fear of the impact it would have on tourism, the Australian government released its annual report presenting a $2 billion investment which will be put towards improving the reef's health, according to CNN.
The reports of the passing of the Great Barrier Reef have been extremely exaggerated; however, it does not mean there is a not problem present. The reefs are under great stress, but they are not dead. There are many ways we can minimize the climate change affecting the reefs and ways to aid in the recovery of the deteriorating ecosystem so future generations will be able to appreciate its beauty.
