Global Warming
Global warming is a topic that has been argued about by scientists, environmentalists, nature lovers, as well as many others. As humans, we live on a planet that we share with many other creatures and a large variety of environments. It may not feel like it sometimes, but all of these environments and their inhabitants are all intricately linked together, even the status of our weather in a climate-science research field known as “extreme event attribution” (“Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world,” 2020). You may be asking yourself how all of this works, or even how all of this matters in our lifetime anyways… well, let’s take a look at our oceans and beaches, a place where humans have been known to escape to as a retreat from the busy, modern lives that we live.
According to NASA, one of the main contributors to the global climate change problem is the complex problem of ocean acidification. Our oceans, in prior decades, have been known to absorb anywhere from 7.2 to 10.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is roughly between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic emissions, and this is a result of the human species (“Climate change evidence: How do we know?”, 2020). Although the carbon dioxide is being absorbed into the ocean from our air, this absorption causes problems below the water’s surface and has a negative impact on the coral reef ecosystems. These threats include a warming ocean, the sea levels rising, there are changes in storm patterns, changes in precipitation, altered ocean currents, and ocean acidification (“How does climate change affect coral reefs?,” n.d.). So how does this impact the coral reefs, and why should we care?
In regards to the coral reefs, a warming ocean can cause thermal stress which produces mass coral bleaching events, infectious disease outbreaks, and also a reduction in the calcification rates in reef-building due to the altered pH of the ocean water. This is a process termed “ocean acidification”. The rise in sea levels from melting glaciers increases sedimentation runoff which also leads to coral reefs becoming smothered. In addition, storm pattern changes can cause coral reef destruction, increased runoff of land-based pollutants, algal blooms, and even a reduction of light coming through the water due to murky visibility. Altered currents also impact the sources of food that the corals need to survive in addition to reduced pH levels which leads to a reduction of coral growth and the structural integrity of the reef is weakened (“How does climate change affect coral reefs?”, n.d.). Coral bleaching is an event where the vibrant coral reefs begin to turn white. The coral reefs have their vibrant colors due to microscopic algae called zooxanthellae which live within the coral. These zooxanthellae and coral reefs have a symbiotic relationship with each other where they both rely on each other for survival (Hancock, n.d.). According to the Technical Summary of the IPCC Special Report on Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), our current rate of emissions will consistently grow unless we have an effective climate change mitigation policy in place. This report also states that “Ocean warming, acidification and deoxygenation, ice sheet and glacier mass loss, and permafrost degradation are expected to be irreversible on time scales relevant to human societies and ecosystems.”. This basically forces the human species into a situation of rapid adaptation. Mitigation at a global scale will reduce the needs and costs of this adaptation (“Technical summary — Special report on the ocean and Cryosphere in a changing climate,” n.d.), but only if we (human species) as a collective take it seriously and push forward, and excuse my language, but we also have to give a damn. That is something I find lacking in the world lately. But why? In the 2017 film Chasing Coral, Richard Vevers, a coral reef biologist, feels that it’s because the ocean and what is underneath it is more “out of sight, out of mind” for most people. In 1975 most of the Elkhorn coral reef in the Florida Keys was alive but now there is an 80–90% coral loss and 50% of that is within the past 30 years. According to Charlie Veron, a prominent marine scientist considered the ‘Godfather of Coral’, the death of coral reefs also impacts humans. There are populations of people that rely on the coral reefs for fish which provides a source of protein, the main source of protein. In addition, pharmaceutical drugs such as Prostaglandin and Briostatin are derived from coral reefs and these medications fight cancer (Cornfield, 2017). This is an eye-opening thing to think about. It makes you wonder why we, as the human species, don’t care more about the mortality rates of the coral reefs.
This bleaching event has been the longest, deadliest, and most widespread in history. Based on current trends, within the next 30 years, annual bleaching will kill most of the world’s corals. — Chasing Coral, 2017 [Documentary Film]
So how are we supposed to mitigate these negative events and reduce them from happening? The United States Environmental Protection Agency suggests a variety of lifestyle changes that anybody can adopt to help support the health of our coral reefs. For persons who like to visit coral reef sites, it is important to practice safe and responsible diving and snorkeling which involves not touching the coral reefs and not anchoring boats onto the coral reefs. Sunscreen, due to its ingredients, can be harmful to coral reefs so that is something to take into consideration when purchasing these products. For persons not visiting coral reefs, you can still make lifestyle changes that have a positive impact. Recycling and disposing of our trash properly help keep debris out of the oceans. Make sure to clean up any trash you see (or bring) to beaches, or you may even participate in the annual International Coastal Cleanup event. We can also reduce our usage of lawn fertilizers that contain nitrogen and phosphorus which can end up in the ocean from runoff, and these nutrients can actually be harmful to the coral. Nowadays there are more natural options available for our yard care that can be purchased at hardware stores. Alongside reducing harmful lawn fertilizer usage, you can also reduce stormwater runoff by properly installing water catchments or rain gardens, as well as using rain barrels to collect rainwater. In addition to these things, we can also choose to use a cleaner mode of transportation like hybrid or electric vehicles. Emissions contribute to the problems seen with the coral reefs in ways of acidification and increased ocean temperatures (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2019). With healthy corals that are exposed to heat which leads to bleaching, it is up to us to take the necessary interventions and make the changes that will be required to help restore the coral reefs and bring them back as recovering ecosystems that will ultimately survive (Schuttenburg & Marshall, 2005, p. 117).
When we look at global warming and all of the factors involved and the areas that are the most impacted, I think it is safe to say that the area most impacted is our oceans. The rapid destruction of our coral reefs is only one of the problems happening below the surface of the water, but it may just be the biggest. With human populations that survive on fish as their main source of protein all the way to the pharmaceuticals used to fight cancer, the health of the coral reefs touches our lives somehow, even on a small level to where we might not take notice. Like Richard Vevers stated in the Chasing Coral documentary, it’s just out of sight and out of mind. I can honestly say that it was for me for the most part, until sitting down to write this paper and watching the documentary myself. The human species is depending on the survival of the coral reefs. So why aren’t we doing more to stop killing it?
References
Climate change evidence: How do we know? (2020). Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Cornfield, D., & Cornfield, L. (Directors). (2017). Chasing Coral [Documentary Film]. Exposure Labs Productions.
Hancock, L. (n.d.). Everything you need to know about coral bleaching — and how we can stop it. World Wildlife Fund. https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coral-bleaching-and-how-we-can-stop-it
How does climate change affect coral reefs? (n.d.). NOAA’s National Ocean Service. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coralreef-climate.html
Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world. (2020, April 21). Carbon Brief. Retrieved April 8, 2021, from https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extreme-weather-around-the-world
Schuttenburg, H., & Marshall, P. (2005). 10. Managing for Mass Coral Bleaching: Strategies for Supporting Socio-ecological Resilience. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://www.coris.noaa.gov/activities/caribbean_rpt/SCRBH2005_10.pdf
Technical summary — Special report on the ocean and Cryosphere in a changing climate. (n.d.). IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/technical-summary/
US Environmental Protection Agency. (2019, November 14). What you can do to help protect coral reefs. US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/what-you-can-do-help-protect-coral-reefs
