Posts
Paul Beckwith: My
Condolences to Australia's Great Barrier Reef
The
Great Barrier Reef along the NE coastline of Australia is (soon to be
was) the largest living ecosystem on Earth. It is dying, and it's
loss will be devastating for planet Earth, not to mention Australia.
Not only was the 2300 km long reef teeming with life (biological
hotspot), it protects coastlines from storms and is a World Heritage
tourist magnet. Of 520 reefs aerially surveyed, 516 were white
(bleached) and of these at least 50% will die. Loss to biodiversity
is incalculable.
In 1998 I dived the GBR for the first time and a marine biologist I studied under congratulated me for being the last generation to dive the reef before it died.
ReplyDeleteIn 2011 I sailed across the Coral sea to Cairns from Micronesia and sailed 800 mls down the reef diving or snorkling every day for 8 weeks.
My sadness with seeing these reefs dying is overcome by the knowledge that it is the incubator of the marine food web and represents the collapse of the marine system which generates 90 % of the planets oxygen and most of our protein and sustains most of the planets species.
Our Carbon Experiment is drawing to a close, it can only end very badly.