WE ARE KILLING OUR REEFS by Josh s (book club books txt) 📕

Why should we care about coral reefs and coral bleaching?

    What would we do without coral reefs? What if there were no coral reefs which means no homes for the sea creatures that live in the coral reefs which means no fishing which means no food of us humans. These are just some of the questions that we need to consider about coral reefs before it is too late. If we don't take immediate action this will have a big impact on us later on in life.

    Before anything else, what are coral reefs and coral bleaching? Coral reefs are a type of underwater ecosystem shaped by limestone formations producing many organisms including algae, shellfish, sand and many other things that affect almost all life on earth including us.[1]

    First thing to understanding this problem you need to understand that we are causing it. Thanks to the widespread of burning fossil fuels and global warming the earth is becoming warmer and is causing coral bleaching.[2]  Also deforestation is a part of the problem because when there are no roots holding in the soil the soil falls apart and goes into the ocean blocking out the sun not allowing the coral to grow.[1]  Not only that but the fishing industry poses numerous threats because ships and even boats passing by can hit and damage the coral and the overfishing can upset the reefs stability.[1]  Lastly other human activities such as agricultural fertilizers, seaside homes and many others can upset the stability of these beautiful coral reefs.[1]

    Now of course this problem is going to eventually affect us and it actually already is. Millions of people around the world rely on these coral reefs to provide food and other resources and without thousands of miles of reefs surrounding coastal areas many beaches and even islands can be destroyed.[1] Also without coral reefs a lot of places would not be able to make money because coral draws in such a large number of tourists.[2]  lastly scientists and many other people believe that coral reefs hold many different unknown cures for diseases such as heart disease, asthma, leukemia and many more. [2]

    Like said above this problem will eventually affect us but there are things we can do to help and stop it, such as writing to fishing industries telling them to stop being so careless and using fishing methods that can really damage these reefs you can also do the same with companies that cause deforestation.[2]  Also try and reduce the amount of fossil fuels you put into the air. If that is to hard or time consuming for you there are also things you can do to that are a lot simpler like making sure you follow rules and guidelines when scuba diving snorkeling or just visiting a reef and to also not touch the coral.[1]

Publication Date: 07-22-2015

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