This article was written by sixth grade student Brody J.

Did you know that in 2016, 51 percent of all coral reefs were bleached? This is a serious problem. If this keeps up, coral reefs will be extinct forever. We need to do something about this. Coral bleaching is destructive for people's wellbeing, economy, and marine life. 

What is Coral Bleaching?
Coral bleaching is when corals get very stressed from global warming and other issues. When corals are stressed they lose their algae. Their algae is a corals source of food, and when they lose their algae they bleach. If corals don’t recover from this they die. 

One thing that causes this is global warming. When we release CO₂ or other gasses into our atmosphere our oceans absorb lots of the gasses. This causes the temperature of the ocean to rise. When the temperature rises the corals get stressed and lose their algae. This causes them to bleach and most likely die. According to Coral in the Great Barrier Reef is Dying Because of Global Warming, global warming has already killed a quarter of the great barrier reefs corals. That's equivalent to approximately 121 times the size of Singapore! This coral reef is a haven for sea life, it provides jobs for people, money for the government, then it is demolished by coral bleaching. If we keep this up, coral reefs are going to die at an even more alarming rate.

A coral reef’s resilience has its limits, and when that resilience is broken it can take a long time to recover. For example, many reefs have been damaged for a long time and still haven’t recovered. For instance, some parts of the great barrier reef are still recovering from a cyclone in 2009. Coral reefs also don't have much resilience against problems like coral bleaching. According to Great Barrier Reef's Resilience even strong coral reefs have their limits when it comes to problems like coral bleaching. Now that we know what coral bleaching is, we can move on to how it is impacting people’s wellbeing. 

Coral Bleaching is Destructive To People’s Wellbeing:
Coral bleaching can be destructive to people's wellbeing. Coral bleaching can cause people to be less healthy. For example, when coral bleaching is happening there is not a lot of seafood. This can make people that only have seafood on their diet to not have enough food. When people do not have enough food it can cause major health problems. Coral bleaching can also cause people to be sad. Coral bleaching can also cause people to be sad. People that have jobs that are in coral reefs can lose their jobs when corals are bleached. This may cause depression for the people that used to have a job there. It also affects people that want to tour the reefs but can’t. Coral bleaching causes people to lose money. The researcher Mark Willacy says that the great barrier reef bleaching could cost $1 billion in lost tourism. This will impact job owners that rely on tourism. Coral bleaching not only impacts people’s wellbeing, but it also is destructive to the economy.

Coral Bleaching is Destructive To the Economy
According to Time, $30 billion in reef value is at stake. If coral bleaching isn't stopped countries will lose $30 billion in total. This can cause unemployment, an increase in tax, loss in tourism, and other issues. Coral bleaching is causing people to lose their jobs. When coral reefs die out the people that work as tour operators, fishermen, and people that work at nearby hotels and restaurants lose their jobs. Fishermen have no fish to catch. Tour operators have no one that wants to see a dead/bleached reef. People that work at nearby hotels and restaurants have no customers due to a decrease in tourism at their local reefs. Coral bleaching is causing less tourism. When coral reefs die no one wants to go see the reefs. This can cause lots of problems in the local communities. Now that we know how coral bleaching is destructive to the economy and people’s wellbeing, we can move on to how it is destroying our marine life.

Coral Bleaching is Destructive To Marine Life
According to Time, 25 percent of marine life lives and depends on coral reefs. If corals become extinct, 25 percent of marine life will go extinct too. Fish that help make beautiful white sand beaches and fish that we use for food will perish. Coral bleaching puts marine life in danger and if the corals don’t recover the fish die too. Coral reefs are homes and a source of food for many different species of fish. Coral reefs are a haven for marine life. When coral bleaching events happen these coral reefs cannot be a habitat for marine life anymore. Coral reefs also provide shelter for strong storms like cyclones, and marine life doesn’t have much of a chance when they don’t have the corals. Coral reefs impact more than just the fish inside the coral reefs. Coral bleaching not only impacts the marine life that lives in the coral reefs but also the dominant predators. Predators that eat the fish that live in coral reefs have no food when coral bleaching events are in progress. Now that we know how it is destructive to people's wellbeing, the economy, and marine life we need to know what can be done.

Counterargument
Some people that don’t believe in climate change might say that climate change is a myth. According to Climate Change Is An Obvious Myth, sea level rise is a myth, because “you ever leave an ice cube in your drink it lasts longer than five minutes? It melts, and yet we’re meant to believe these ice caps lasted millions of years.” This is obviously false because their facts about ice caps are incorrect. When you put an ice cube into a cup it lasts five minutes because the temperature in the room is not yet freezing. The ice caps that are causing sea levels to rise are in a climate that is freezing. This is why they last for millions of years. When we put gasses like methane and CO₂ into the atmosphere it makes the climate warmer, forcing the ice caps to melt. 

What Can We Do:
Coral bleaching is destructive to many things and is a terrible issue. Something needs to be done. One thing that you can do to protect coral reefs is, help stop global warming. One way to help stop global warming is to stop using palm oil products. This is because palm oil companies use deforestation for growing palm oil. Another way is, you can emit less CO₂ into the atmosphere. This can be done by using more sustainable energy sources or using more sustainable ways of transport. This includes walking or riding a bicycle. Lastly, you can eat more sustainable meat. Eating sustainable meats like chicken and avoiding options like beef will prevent methane emissions. Methane is one of the main causes of global warming. 

Conclusion
According to Time, 500 million people rely on coral reefs for tourism, jobs, and food. That's around 91 times the number of Singapore's population! If coral bleaching keeps up many people will lose their jobs, food, and their money. Coral bleaching is destructive to the environment, economy, and marine life. Are you willing to do something about this issue? 

Please visit the 6B learning community sustainability website here to learn more about the projects our young activists have been working on for the future of our shared planet.

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Works Cited:

"Great Barrier Reef's resilience." Australian [National, Australia], 12 July 2019, p. 13. Gale In Context: Global Issues, Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.

“Coral Bleaching Infographic & B2 Timeline.” October 17, 2017, SciView. 

"Coral bleaching." Environmental Encyclopedia, edited by Deirdre S. Blanchfield, Gale, 2011. Gale In Context: Global Issues, Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.

“What Is Coral Bleaching?” TIME, 16 Sept. 2016.

“Coral Reefs & Climate Change.” Earth Touch, 5 Feb. 2013.

Slezak, Michael. “Great Barrier Reef Supporters Trying to Stop the Coal Mines That Are Harming It.” Newsela, 30 Nov. 2016.

France-Presse, Agence. “Climate Change Is a Major Threat to Coral Living on the Great Barrier Reef.” Newsela, 20 Mar. 2017.