Killing the coral
When humans overuse fossil fuels, it can destroy underwater ecosystems. This is what happened in 2016 and 2017, when climate change — caused mostly by emissions from fossil fuels — resulted in two mass coral bleaching events that killed half of the coral on the world’s largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Now, scientists are saying that the bleaching suffered this year by the 1,400-mile-long reef off the coast of Queensland was probably the most widespread ever recorded.
Dr C. Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, told CNN that this year’s bleaching was “not as intense, but it’s more widespread”, so it damaged more of the coral without actually killing it. Mass coral bleaching occurs when climate change causes water temperatures to rise. “We have to address climate change if we want to have coral reefs in the future,” said Eakin.