Hope for the environment

Seven years ago, the news was grim. National Geographic headlined that “Half of the Great Barrier Reef Is Dead” due to climate change. The Guardian solemnly pronounced, “Great Barrier Reef at ‘Terminal Stage.’” The Washington Post agreed: “The Great Barrier Reef Is Dying.”

By now, given the alarm in those headlines, Australia’s most famous natural treasure is surely lost, isn’t it? 

 

Well, no. According to an Australian Institute of Marine Science report from last summer, “the Reef has rebounded.” After successive years of cooler temperatures brought by La Niña, “hard corals have recovered significant ground,” the report said, reaching “record high levels in 2022 across two-thirds of the reef.”

 

Despite the many funerals held by media outlets for the world’s largest living structure, the report marveled at the Reef’s “impressive ability to recover from widespread disturbances.” Though scientists cautioned that the coral isn’t in the clear yet, it is still very much alive.

 

Life endures. Life recovers. Life is like that