Climate change has been a controversial topic for a lengthy period of time, with distinctly different viewpoints being shared. There are some who advocate for better environmental policies in order to prevent the state of the Earth from getting worse, and there are others who continually deny the existence of climate change. Some even going as far as calling climate change a hoax, claiming that scientists are fabricating data, attempting to trick the world into believing that things are worse than they actually are. However, the truth is exactly the opposite. Climate change is undeniable, and its many negative effects are wreaking havoc on Earth. The effects are seen everywhere: in the oceans, the air, the land. Wildlife is being threatened by our actions, as conditions become more and more dismal. As we continue to squeeze as many resources we can out of the planet, we affect it in several ways, some that we can not undo. 

While climate change and global warming are often used interchangeably, global warming only refers to Earth’s rising surface temperature, while climate change refers to the warming of the entire globe, and encompasses all of the effects of the increasing temperatures. Simply put, global warming is an effect of climate change. Climate change is mainly caused by the greenhouse effect. The burning of fossil fuels, such as the use of oil in transportation, or the use of coal for power, has led to a rise of carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and nitrous oxide, trap the heat from the sun in our atmosphere, preventing it from escaping. “Global warming caused by human activities that emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide has raised the average global temperature by about 1°F (0.6°C) over the past century” (National Geographic 2007). While the increase in temperature may seem minimal, it could be the difference between an ice cap melting or not. Most of these changes have happened more recently, “with 16 of the 17 warmest years on record occurring since 2001” (NASA). The trapped heat causes the atmosphere to warm up, leading to several different changes in nature, such as the melting ice caps, warmer temperatures, and more severe weather.  While there are several serious consequences of climate change, one of the more noticeable and undeniable is the large scale damage to the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of the world, provides proof of the validity of climate change, and shows how costly and damaging climate change is to not only ecosystems, but to the human race as well. 

Located off the coast of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world, stretching more than 1,600 miles. The reef is so large, it can be seen from outer space. Coral reefs are the most diverse of all marine ecosystems, with around one quarter of all ocean species depending on coral reefs for food and shelter (Smithsonian). Specifically, the Great Barrier Reef is home to “600 types of soft and hard corals, more than 100 species of jellyfish, 3000 varieties of molluscs, 500 species of worms, 1625 types of fish, 133 varieties of sharks and rays, and more than 30 species of whales and dolphins” (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority). While the reef used to be known for its beauty, it no longer looks as it used to decades ago. As reported by the New York Times, “Huge sections of the Great Barrier Reef, stretching across hundreds of miles of its most pristine northern sector, were recently found to be dead, killed by overheated seawater” (Cave and Gillis). The increasing temperature of the atmosphere causes the temperature of the ocean to rise as well. As seen in the graph from EPA’s website, the average global sea surface temperature is increasing, and continuing to rise. 

Ocean surface temperatures rose at an average rate of 0.13°F per decade from 1901 to 2015 (EPA). While this may not seem significant enough to cause a change in the reef, coral reefs will eject their symbiotic algae, causing them to turn white, at even a slight constant temperature change. This whitening of the reef is referred to as coral bleaching. Bleaching causes the coral to slow their growth, which leads to an increased susceptibility to disease, and can lead to large-scale reef die-off (National Geographic 2010). As temperatures get higher, corals go from their natural, earthy colors, to neon, and eventually turn bone white, a distinct sign of how unhealthy they are. This change in color can be seen in the diagram below, provided by Time.

 Terry Hughes, the director of a center for coral reef studies at James Cook University in Australia, says that “only 9 percent of the reef has avoided bleaching since 1998” (Cave & Gillis). The effects of the rising ocean temperature is severe. As seen in the diagram provided by The New York Times, several parts of the reef have shown signs of significant coral loss.

Mark Eakin, a reef expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shared his grim prediction, saying “I don’t think the Great Barrier Reef will ever again be as great as it used to be - at least not in our lifetimes” (Cave & Gillis). Because the Great Barrier Reef is home to so many different species, its unhealthy state is very a serious issue. If species can not depend on the reef anymore for shelter or food, their populations could suffer. This could impact the food web of the ocean, and could possibly lead to the endangerment, or extinction of certain species. The Great Barrier Reef serves as a visual warning of how serious the effects of climate change are. Jennifer Koss, the director of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program says “If you think of corals as canaries [in a coal mine], they’re chirping really loudly right now. The ones that are still alive, that is” (Star & Van Boom). The effects of climate change are blatant, and are destroying the natural beauty of Earth before our eyes.

While the loss of the Great Barrier Reef has an extensive effect on marine life, it also directly affects humans. Reefs serve as a buffer from storms, “helping to prevent loss of life, property damage, and erosion. When reefs are damaged or destroyed, the absence of this natural barrier can increase the damage to coastal communities from normal wave action and violent storms.” (National Ocean Service). Another effect of climate change is an increase in the severity of storms such as hurricanes. As storms become more dangerous and powerful, the need for reefs in order to protect human lives and property increases as well. Aside from serving as buffers, reefs also benefit society by providing a source for both food and medicine. “Scientists have developed cancer, cardiovascular and ulcer treatments from reef plants and animals, while coral's structure has been used to make advanced bone grafts” (Star & Van Boom). Additionally, around 6 million fisherman depend on the waters around coral reefs for their catches. It is estimated that reef fish provide protein for around 1 billion people (Star & Van Boom). As the reefs die, they take potential medical advancements, food sources, and jobs with them.

The loss of the Great Barrier Reef would also detrimentally impact Australia’s economy, as well as the tourism industry. “The death of coral also represents a huge loss—as much as $375 billion annually—for the local economies along the globe they support” (Worland). The Great Barrier Reef serves as a major tourist site, with more than two million people visiting the reef every year (Australian Government). Furthermore, the Great Barrier Reef indirectly and directly supports approximately 69,000 jobs. The demise of the Great Barrier Reef would mean that the job market in Australia would take a major hit, alongside the tourism industry and the economy, impacting the lives of many. 

While the facts and statics make it hard to ignore the severity of climate change, there are still those who try to deny the truth of the matter. Skeptics, such as Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge, claim that “global warming alarmists...wildly exaggerate the degree of ocean level increases to the point of absurdity and have been caught red-handed completely fabricating data to continue scaring the public into supporting a non-issue” (Durden). Scientists say that a consequence of climate change is rising sea levels, because the rising temperatures melt the ice. Durden however claims that sea levels are actually decreasing, and attempts to use the graph below, found on NASA’s website, to argue that scientists are lying to the public.

Durden attempts to convince his readers that the small, circled portion of the graph is enough to prove that climate change is not affecting our oceans. However, he conveniently ignores the rest of the graph, as well as the overall trend of the graph since 1995. There have been several other dips shown in the graph, but the overall trend of the graph shows increasing sea levels over the past 20 years. NASA reports from their Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show that “Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers (36 to 60 cubic miles) of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometers (36 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2005” (NASA). Additionally, ice caps are frozen fresh water, while the ocean is composed of salt water. Because of its varying density, fresh water freezes before ice water. As the ice caps melt, the freshwater of the caps mixes with the saltwater of the ocean, allowing the water in the ocean to freeze at higher temperatures than it did before. This could explain why there are small portions of decreasing sea level amidst the overwhelmingly increasing graph.

Another argument used to try to disprove the validity of climate change is that changes in temperature are normal, and that the Earth naturally experiences periods of warming and cooling. However, at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change, “a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there's more than a 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet” (NASA). While Earth’s climate has gone through periods of warming and cooling for 2.5 million years, within the last century, the climate’s temperature has risen unusually fast (National Geographic 2007). Never before has Earth experienced such a high increase in global temperature. The temperatures are expected to continue to rise as time progresses. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, encompassing more than 1,300 scientists from multiple countries, predicts that temperatures could rise anywhere from 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century (NASA). The correlation between our rising dependence on fossil fuels and the temperature of the globe can not be ignored, or disproven. Our actions as a race have directly impacted the planet we live on, and if we do not make a change soon, the Earth will continue to deteriorate.

While our actions have caused tremendously negative effects on the planet, there are ways in which we can began to undo the damage that has been done to the planet over the years. For example, researchers at Southern Cross University have developed a way to begin restoration of coral reefs that have undergone bleaching. Peter Harrison, project leader, describes their work as "using the spawning of corals, collecting the eggs and sperm from the corals, growing the larvae and then putting millions of larvae back onto the reef to try to start the restoration process" (Turnbull & MacKenzie). The project is the first in the world to successfully manage a coral breeding population from larvae directly on the corals. Harrison hopes that the project will be successful enough for the reef to be able to produce enough larvae to disperse onto other reefs, allowing natural restoration to occur. While the research team at Southern Cross University has found a way to start healing the Great Barrier Reef, this does not mean that we can continue to impair our planet. We can not use the potential discovery of a way to save coral reefs as an excuse to continue polluting the Earth at the rate we are now. According to Hughes and his team, ensuring a future for coral reefs "ultimately requires urgent and rapid action to reduce global warming” (Normile). The bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef is just one of the many effects of climate change, and we have not found solutions to all of its consequences. We must face the reality of climate change, become more environmentally conscience, and work to undo our actions.

As a society, our refusal to face the facts and make a change in our behaviors is an action that will have detrimental consequences to not only the planet we call home, but to our race itself. The deterioration of the Great Barrier Reef, just one of the many serious consequences of climate change on Earth, poses a threat to economies, to food sources, to medical advancements, and to the well-being of those living on the coast. The death of the reef could change entire ecosystems, and lead to the extinction of species of marine life. If we continue to downplay, or simply ignore what is blatantly going on around us, we risk destroying our planet, with no hope of returning it to the way it used to be. Serious measures must be taken if humans plan to save one of the natural wonders of the world, and ourselves.
