Austin Ogden
19 November 2014
Position paper
SOS 220

Coral Reefs vs. Climate Change

Corals reefs around the world have been fighting climate change for just over two centuries. This problem hasn’t caught much attention to the average human eye, but it’s about time everybody realizes how this is affecting their everyday lives as well. Coral bleaching is one of the main concerns with coral reefs around the world. Coral bleaching can be fatal to coral reefs, which in return could hurt us in the future. Ocean acidification is another problem that coral reefs are facing around the world. Not only is it harmful to the coral reefs but harmful to marine life as well. Although these are all negative actions towards coral reefs there can be a bright …show more content…
According to (“managing the reef” 1) “Coral reefs comprise only six per cent of the area of the Great Barrier Reef, yet they provide critical habitat and food for many species in the ecosystem. Healthy coral reefs are also the essential foundation for reef-based tourism and fishing”. This may only be one example of a coral reef but you can see how much they affect their surroundings even if they are in small portions. Currently, the problem with the health of coral reefs is the rising sea temperatures. Coral is very sensitive to higher than normal sea temperatures, in reaction to these higher temperatures, coral bleaching occurs. It was brought to attention by (“managing the reef” 1) that some coral types such as staghorn corals are more sensitive to bleaching than others. Coral reefs are a very important aspect of the oceean and need to be proctected more than they currently are. Just imagine looking at a dying coral reef, no color, no sign of life, just complete emptyness except for the once exhuberant remains of a coral reef. Imagine the outcome of the ocean over time and how it will result from coral reefs dying off, marine life as we know it will slowly die off unless we do something about climate