Bleached coral a warning

Humanity has reached a dubious and potentially terminal milestone — the last time there was this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, dinosaurs were the dominant species and the first humans were still millions of years in the future. March was the 11th straight record-setting month for global temperatures.

Last month, the UN convened a conference in Bonn, Germany, to assess the extent of global warming. The deteriorating state of one of nature’s greatest creations might begin to persuade even the skeptical that we’re experiencing something far beyond the typical warming cycle.

In recent years, Australia’s 2,200-kilometre Great Barrier Reef has been decimated by warming waters. The impact of warmer, more acidic oceans on the world’s reef formations is particularly dramatic. Great stretches of barrier reef are being bleached white because the warmer water is killing the algae that live inside and nourish the coral.

The spectacle of ghostly white reef formations in oceans where brimming colours and large clusters of sea life used to be should alarm us all. They represent the death and dying of a major part of the ecosystem.

Ninety-three per cent of the Great Barrier reef is suffering the effects of bleaching, with 81 per cent of the northern third completely bleached out. By any standard of measurement, this is one of the world’s greatest environmental catastrophes.

As images of the devastated coral reefs enter public consciousness in the coming months and years, all of us have to ask ourselves how much of the natural world we’re willing to sacrifice by our refusal to adjust dramatically downward our burning of fossil fuels.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette