Coal Development threatens Great Barrier Reef
Stephanie Paige Ogbum
Scientific American
4/30/13
Topic in Environmental Science: Ocean Acidification
In the article “Coal Development Threatens Great Barrier Reef”, Stephanie Paige Ogbum talks about how the exportation of coal will hurt the coral reefs with sediments and other pollution as well as ocean acidification and climate change once the coal is burnt. Because of these coal emissions entering the oceans waters, many coral reefs have died and have become inhabitable because of the acidity of the waters due to the amounts of CO2 in the emissions that enter the waters. This is called ocean acidification. Another threat of these coal exportations is the radical climate changes that might occur due to these exports. These radical climate changes can kill the coral reefs due to rising temperatures of the waters that the reefs are not accustomed to.
I chose this article because right now in class we are learning about ocean acidification and how it affects different environments in different ways. I wanted to get some more information about the problem and see in comparison what effects are similar and different from what we are learning. To me, the most interesting thing in the article was that the exportation itself of coal could affect coral reefs and oceans in general in a big manner. As I said before, we are learning this same problem in class and I wanted to get more insight on the topic.
I feel that the most significant thing about this article is that even the things we do not consider in our everyday lives can impact us more that we think. For example, most of us do not think of where or how our energy is made from or where it comes from, but, that insight can really open your eyes to what we are really doing to our environment and this needs to be changed.