In case you haven’t heard, the future of the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, isn’t looking too hot. Or, rather, it is and that’s precisely the problem.
Warming water temperatures and an increased frequency of storms are direct results of global climate change and are wreaking havoc on the reef. This has caused the Australian government to step in, pledging 500 million Australian Dollars to save it, though the move is hotly contested by environmentalists who view it as disingenuous.
Recently Patagonia ambassadors Belinda Baggs, Kimi Werner, and Wayne Lynch sailed to remote stretches of the reef to assess its health in-person. What they found were bastions of dead reef contrasted with stretches of vibrant, life-supporting reef.
According to reports, approximately 93 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has suffered the effects of coral bleaching to varying degrees. And climate change is estimated to have killed 30 percent of the reef just in the last few years.
I mentioned that environmentalists are up in arms about the Australian governments AUD$500 million effort to save the reef. This is mainly due to the Turnbull administration’s continued support of the controversial Adani coal mine, which is seen as having a direct impact on the reef’s bleak outlook. The film above hints at as much.
Gemma Freeman from the Australian Marine Conservation Society doesn’t mince words when she says, “Climate change is the biggest risk to our reef. Coal is the biggest culprit. Therefore to protect our reef we need to stop using coal and move to renewables as quickly as we can.”
