The Great Barrier reef is described as “one of Australia’s most remarkable natural gifts” and “is blessed with breathtaking beauty” by greatbarrierreef.org. There have been rumors circulating that the Great Barrier Reef is dead. Is that true?

     Outside Magazine recently published an obituary for the Great Barrier Reef to the disbelief of many. Scientists, however, say that there is a big difference between “dead” and “dying.”

     To the slight relief of many, the Great Barrier Reef is actually not dead, but it is dying. According to ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, 93 percent of the coral reefs are affected by bleaching. This is when the coral are extremely stressed due to change in temperature, light and nutrients, and they release symbiotic algae that turns them white.

     The Great Barrier Reef is endangered, and the purpose of the “hyperbolic” obituary was to bring this issue to the forefront.

     “The message should be that it isn’t too late for Australia to lift its game and better protect the Great Barrier Reef, not ‘we should all give up because the Great Barrier Reef is supposedly dead,’” director of the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Terry Hughes said.

     Pollution, fishing, mining and burning fossil fuels are all to blame for the stress on the Great Barrier Reef.

     Temperatures are rising due to climate change, which is also putting stress on the Great Barrier Reef. The fact that some people still don’t believe in global warming is an issue that needs to be addressed. We are not only killing the largest coral reef on earth, home to over 3,000 individual reef systems and 1,500 different species of fish, we are also killing our only home. If we continue to treat the earth like this, we won’t have a home for much longer.