The reef, one of the largest living things on earth, has started to fail. Whether it can recover is unclear. An organism roughly the size of Germany is bleaching to death. More than 90 percent of the reef that Flannery saw had suffered. Bleaching occurs when excessive heat and sunlight cause the algae that give coral reefs their shimmering colors to create toxins.
The toxins repel the tiny animals called polyps essential to the ecosystem of the corals. As my colleague Michelle Innis put it, “When heat stress continues, they starve to death.” Because the coral reefs support vast fish stocks, the livelihoods — sometimes the very survival — of countless people depend on them.
The causes of this disaster are clear enough. The impact of rising water temperatures caused by climate change was compounded by the El Niño cycle and by an underwater heat wave. This year, in a survey of 520 reefs that form the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists found only four free of bleaching. About 620 miles of previously pristine reef had been affected.
“I knew there was bleaching but not to this degree,” Flannery told me. “For me, it was almost like watching my father die, seeing his organism slowly shut down.”
Besides having the world’s largest coral reef, Australia also is the
world’s fourth largest coal producer. Coal-fired power plants provide about a third of the nation’s energy, and coal exports to China, Japan, South Korea and India bring in billions of dollars annually. The country has been described as “Asia’s quarry.” But of course the coal plants, some old, are spewing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
So it’s coral versus coal, the earth’s health against a big industry, and science versus the Abbott-inspired denial gang. As if to illustrate Australia’s divisions, Queensland’s environment minister, alluding to climate change, warned last month of the need to “reduce as many pressures” as possible on the Great Barrier Reef just after the state approved leases for what would be Australia’s largest coal mine.
The state of the Great Barrier Reef is one such consequence. Yet, Turnbull, beholden to Abbott’s right wing of the Liberal Party, has, as leader, done his best to forget what he said six years ago. Climate change? What climate change? “I’ve known Turnbull for 30 years, I know what he believes, but he’s fallen victim to his tribe,” Flannery told me.
That’s a great pity. The reef is as irreplaceable as this planet. Australia has overcapacity in electricity generation. It should close several of its old coal-fired plants. Rich in renewable and clean-energy sources, Australia should be a leader, not a laggard, on climate change. Reputations, like the reef, are easily bleached.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/opinion/coral-vs-coal.html?
action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0
What the hell are we doing?