WONDER WORLD

Tim Flannery is one of our most eminent scientists – a climate change expert, explorer and zoologist. He is the author of a string of acclaimed books, including The Weather Makers, and in 2013 co-founded Australia’s independent climate action advocacy bod

Climate change expert, explorer and zoologist Tim Flannery on the challenges ahead to save the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living thing on Earth. Visible from outer space, it is an underwater garden of unsurpassed natural beauty, home to more than 400 different types of coral and 1,500 species of tropical fish. But climate change, which leads to warmer waters and ocean acidification, is endangering the reef. Severe bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 had devastating effects, while at the time of writing, the proposed Carmichael coal mine north of the Galilee Basin, Central Queensland, threatens it with more. CLARE PRESS: “THE GREAT BARRIER REEF LOOMS LARGE IN OUR NATIONAL PSYCHE. IT’S AN IMPORTANT TOURIST ATTRACTION, OF COURSE, SUPPORTING ABOUT 10,000 JOBS, BUT IT ALSO HAS A MAGIC AND MYSTERY THAT GOES BEYOND ECONOMICS.” TIM FLANNERY: “It does. Seeing the reef for the first time is one of those completely transformative experiences. For someone who hasn’t been onto a tropical reef before, diving into the water and encountering up close the colours and the diversity of life is profound. If you keep diving the reef and trying to understand it, you see the most extraordinary, complex ecological relationships play out.” CP: “HOW BIG IS IT?” TF: “It’s about the size of Germany and spreads over 2,400 kilometres along the [Australia’s east] coast from Central Queensland to New Guinea. It’s enormous.” CP: “HOW MUCH REMAINS UNDISCOVERED? I MEAN, DO WE KNOW ABOUT ALL THE CREATURES THAT LIVE ON THE REEF?” TF: “Far from it. There are still new species being discovered, including some extraordinary ones, gigantic single-celled bacteria for example; and new species of fish, anemones, corals. Also, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the last refuges for tropical marine mega fauna such as turtles, dugongs and manta rays that have often been hunted out in other parts of the world.” CP: “THIS SUMMER, I WAS PART OF A GROUP THAT THE CLIMATE COUNCIL TOOK TO THE HERON ISLAND RESEARCH STATION ON THE REEF. APART FROM MODEL AND MARINE BIOLOGIST LAURA WELLS, WE WERE A BUNCH OF NON-SCIENTISTS: MUSICIANS, WRITERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, A WINE-MAKER, FREE DIVER JULIA WHEELER, THE ARTIST JOSHUA YELDHAM … WHY DID YOU TAKE US?” TF: “Because we wanted people like you to see what’s happening close up, and become advocates for the cause, and that’s why I’m so pleased to do this interview. This isn’t just an issue for scientists or environmental activists, or even just Australians; it’s an issue for everyone. The reef is World Heritage listed, and it needs our help.” CP: “YOU SHOWED US PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE REEF TAKEN BY NATURAL HISTORIAN WILLIAM SAVILLE-KENT IN THE 1890s. CAN YOU TELL US HIS STORY?”

TF: “He had a very unfortunate early life: he seems to have been involved in the murder of a family member [no charges were brought against him]. His sister was convicted of murdering a half-sibling and the body was disposed of in a latrine, and I think the event dogged Saville-Kent his whole life. He became a cause célèbre – [Charles] Dickens wrote a story [inspired by the family scandal].” CP: “GOD, SOMEONE SHOULD MAKE A FILM ABOUT HIM!” TF: “He came to Australia and took a job in Queensland, where he photographed and documented the Great Barrier Reef. He was always careful to keep a reference point in the background. You can go back to that exact spot today and see how it’s changed. I don’t know of a single instance where the reef has been preserved in its full glory as he saw it.” CP: “HOW MUCH OF THAT IS DOWN TO US?”

TF: “There is no evidence of any natural causes of these changes; it’s all human. In the 20th century we took the reef for granted. [Humans] cleared its catchments, allowing sediment to flow into the lagoon. They developed agriculture, which has resulted in massive fertiliser and pesticide runoff. There’s been a lot of inappropriate fishing, there was even a proposal during Bjelke-Petersen’s government to mine the reef; just dig it up and sell it as fertiliser.” CP: “GLOBAL WARMING IS TAKING ITS TOLL. HOW DO WARMER WATERS DAMAGE THE REEF?” TF: “Corals are vulnerable to temperature increases. They are very strange organisms; they work with algae, called zooxanthellae, in a sort of business partnership. Coral is made up of small polyps and inside are millions of tiny algae. The algae give the coral its colour. If they leave, the coral looks white, which is what we mean by bleaching. The polyp provides shelter for the algae and the algae feed the polyps through photosynthesis, but the efficiency with which the algae can create food is temperature dependent. If temperatures elevate briefly, the polyp can survive for a time, and when the water cools, let the algae back in. But if the heat is extended for more than a month, the coral dies.” CP: “THE BEAUTY OF OUR OCEANS, BEACHES, REEFS ARE BIG SELLING POINTS FOR AUSTRALIAN FASHION AND STYLE. BUT IS THERE A DISCONNECT HERE AS WE ARE TRASHING OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AT UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS?” TF: “I think that’s a fair comment. Although there is a lot being done by some Australians to try to change things.” CP: “BUT NOT ENOUGH? A RECENT CLIMATE COUNCIL REPORT NOTES: ‘AUSTRALIA IS FAILING TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE WITH EMISSIONS RISING AND A LACK OF ANY COHERENT, NATIONAL APPROACH TO REDUCE EMISSIONS IN THE SHORT, MEDIUM OR LONG TERM. WE’RE KNOWN AS A GLOBAL CLIMATE LAGGARD.’” →

“When you dive into that water over the reef you are immersing yourself in nature, you have the opportunity to feel it, not just to observe it”

TF: “When it comes to emissions and switching to renewable energy, we’re not doing anywhere near enough. We are really the ‘wooden spooners’, and it’s such a tragedy because we could be enjoying affordable, stable, clean power and be well on the way to transitioning to electrified transport and a much lighter industrial carbon footprint.” CP: “HOW CAN WE DO THAT NOW?” TF: “Honour the Paris Agreement [to keep global temperature rise by the end of the century below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels]. We need to cut emissions as hard and fast as possible. Secondly, we need to start developing the technologies that we will need in future to draw CO2 out of the atmosphere.” CP: “THE MORE I READ ABOUT SOME OF THE MORE SINISTER PROPOSED SOLUTIONS, LIKE INJECTING SULPHUR ONTO THE STRATOSPHERE TO DIM THE SUN, THE MORE WORRIED I GET. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THAT?” TF: “I’m not suggesting we go for any of those extreme geoengineering ideas – I am very much against them – but I think we need to act to draw CO2 out of the air by strengthening Earth’s own natural systems.” CP: “SEAWEED! YOU JUST WROTE A BOOK ON THIS.”

TF: “Seaweed grows 30 to 60 times faster than land-based plants and captures lots of carbon very quickly. If it gets into the deep ocean and the carbon is sequestered, then that carbon is out of the system. We know seaweed has potential but we have to develop the technology. I’m hopeful that by 2050, seaweed will be a significant weapon in the fight against climate change if we make the investment now.” CP: “WE ALSO NEED TO SEPARATE THE CLIMATE CHANGE CONVERSATION FROM PARTY POLITICS.” TF: “Absolutely. There’s a problem with our political system; everything becomes a tool to hit the opposition over the head with, and the national interest is done away with. We as voters are the ones who can change that. We have to decide the national interest is the primary objective. If the political parties won’t do it, we have to find a new way of doing it.” CP: “BUT WE DO KNOW THAT INCREASED GREENHOUSE GASES IN THE ATMOSPHERE ARE CAUSING IN CLIMATE CHANGE, AND THAT HUMANS ARE PUTTING THEM THERE, BELCHING THEM OUT OF OUR CARS, POWER STATIONS AND FACTORIES. FASHION, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A MAJOR POLLUTER. GLOBAL CLOTHING PRODUCTION DOUBLED BETWEEN 2000 AND 2015, AND ACCORDING TO SOME PROJECTIONS, BY 2050 THE TEXTILES INDUSTRY WILL ACCOUNT FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER OF GLOBAL EMISSIONS. WE ALSO KNOW THAT PARTS PER MILLION OF C02 IN THE ATMOSPHERE ARE DIRECTLY RELATED TO GLOBAL WARMING, AND THESE NUMBERS KEEP RISING; THEY ARE NOW AT THEIR HIGHEST FOR 800,000 YEARS. AND YET SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL DENYING CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN ACTUAL THING …” TF: “Well, some people say the Earth is flat. We can’t let them sidetrack us. We’ve known since 1859, when the first demonstration was made, that CO2 captures heat. Yes, climate science is complex, but the fundamentals are unassailable. It’s happening. We can see it all around us.” CP: “EXTREME WEATHER IS TELLING US, HURRICANES, FIRES; SO WHY AREN’T WE LISTENING ANDACTING?” TF: “I think there are implications, when it comes, for example, to the loss of the reef, that we perhaps don’t want to think about, because they are very, very bad for a series of reasons, from erosion of the Queensland coast through to the loss of major industries to what it means to be Australian.” CP: “AND WE’RE SORT OF NOT ALLOWED TO GO THERE, RIGHT? BECAUSE IT’S UN-AUSTRALIAN WHEN WE SHOULD BE TALKING UP OUR NATURAL WONDERS?” TF: “Perhaps we don’t value enough the things that other people see in Australia, that are reflected in our supposedly carefree outdoors lifestyle. Yes, it’s a wonderful lifestyle, but if you’re outside in a sewer …”

CP: “THAT’S A BIT STRONG!” TF: “Is it? Effectively, we’re creating a sewer for the Great Barrier Reef; we’re creating water conditions that are full of contaminants.” CP: “CAN CELEBRITY ACTIONS HELP RAISE AWARENESS? I’M THINKING ABOUT THE ACTOR SIMON BAKER’S CAMPAIGN WITH THE AUSTRALIAN MARINE CONSERVATION SOCIETY TO STOP ADANI’S CARMICHAEL COAL MINE.” TF: “I think that sort of campaign can reach people. Spreading knowledge and starting conversations is a powerful thing.” CP: “WHAT CAN READERS DO? BECAUSE I THINK BEING OVERWHELMED CAN LEAD TO INACTION, CAN’T IT? THE TOO-HARD BASKET …” TF: “I do understand that, but I would say lead by example and be the change. That’s powerful. Make this an issue for yourself.” CP: “JOSHUA YELDHAM IS DOING HIS BIT BY ILLUSTRATING THIS STORY. JOSHUA HAS A DEEP CONNECTION WITH NATURE THAT COMES THROUGH VERY STRONGLY IN HIS PAINTINGS. DID YOU TWO DISCUSS THAT ON HERON ISLAND?”

TF: “We did. We talked about that connectivity, and how people now live in urban environments where we’re cut off from it, and yet latent within us is the ability to recognise it. When you dive into that water over the reef you are immersing yourself in nature, you have the opportunity to feel it, not just to observe it, but to understand it as a working system.” CP: “MANY OF JOSH’S PICTURES FEATURE OWLS, RIVERS AND TREES. HE’S TALKED ABOUT HIS WORK BEING ‘A PRAYER TO HIS ENVIRONMENT ON THE HAWKESBURY RIVER’, AND ALSO ABOUT ‘THE POWER OF THE OLD KNOWLEDGE’ AND OUR ANCIENT, INSTINCTIVE CONNECTION TO LAND. IT MAKES ME THINK THAT OUR WEAKER CONNECTION IS TO BLAME FOR THE HAVOC WE WREAK ON NATURE.” TF: “It’s an essential part of being human, that deep knowledge that we are part of nature.” CP: “WHEN DID YOU, PERSONALLY, REALISE THAT?” TF: “I was one of that generation who grew up around the edge of a big city – in my case Melbourne – at a time of very rapid population growth. I loved the nature around my home, I built cubby houses, caught frogs in the swamp, but all of that was gone by the time I was 10; the suburbs have rolled through and destroyed it. I found my refuge in the ocean. The reefs that were there then were beautiful temperate reefs with lots of interesting species. I learned to scuba dive as a teenager in the early 70s and it was a paradise. But some of us tap into the refuge through gardening, some of us through watching birds, or what we eat.” CP: “IT’S THERE IN ALL OF US, SOMEWHERE, EVEN IF WE HAVE TO DIG A LITTLE TO FIND IT.” TF: “We cannot survive, much less lead our best life, without nature.” ■