Last week, Outside Online website threw the Internet into frenzy when it released a report declaring that the Great Barrier Reef has died, stating that “climate change and ocean acidification have killed off one of the most spectacular features on the planet.” It also said that the reef is 25 million years old, in complete obituary-style.

Social Hysteria

The news has been shared 1.41 million times (as of this writing) on various social media, including Facebook and Twitter, with the netizens expressing grief and horror over the loss of one the (if not the) greatest natural wonders of the world.

But it isn’t just the individual folks that got concerned, even the legit news outfits jump in on the craze, further fueling the apparent veracity of the article, and thus adding more reason it needs to be shared (because come on, it is bona fide news!)

We don’t have any reason to believe it was slow news day that time, however.

The Great Barrier Reef Isn’t Dead…

Here at VisaOne, we are all about accuracy and truthfulness, whether it is with the help we provide or the information we impart. So when we saw this news exploding all over the web, we did what any responsible blogger would do: we tested the story. And we found it unreliable and hyperbolic.

Here’s the thing, it might be the single greatest living structure on Earth, but the Reef isn’t just one organism. It is composed of millions of individual corals, each one being made of billions of microscopic living things called coral polyps. These tiny creatures are what make up other coral reefs around the world. They either live individually or in extremely large groups. Either way, a huge collection of corals such as the Great Barrier Reef cannot all die at the same time.

Basically, Outside just placed Australia’s prized attraction along the ranks of famous personalities always being falsely reported as dead like Paul McCartney, Sylvester Stallone, and Jackie Chan (if you have seen his movies, you know Jackie Chan does not die).

The more level-headed and actual authorities on environmental science seems to concur, with environmental reporter Tony Davis calling out Outside for its “greatly exaggerated” news and Cornell University Rockland stating that “The message should be that it isn’t too late… not we should all give up.”

A good news, yes. However, not a call for celebration.

… But It Is Not Healthy Either.

The news’ veracity might be challenged, but it is not entirely false. You see, the Reef is not in a very good condition. Currently, more than 90% (or around 2,300 kilometers) of it is tremendously damaged because of bleaching, as per the report of ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Bleaching happens when corals, stressed by the rise in sea temperatures, light, or nutrients, expel out the symbiotic algae living with in their tissues. This causes the corals to go white.

The coral bleaching process based on illustration by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That’s correct. Only less than 10% of Queensland’s icon is alive and well.

The two most devastating bleaching events happened in 1998 and 2002, where 42% and 54% of the reefs, respectively, were damaged.

There are two factors that are being looked at to be major contributors to these wide spread coral death. One is the El Niño phenomenon, a cyclical climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean that causes sea temperature to rise. And the other is the scarier and larger monster called Climate Change. It has affected the Reef not only through constantly increasing water temperatures, but through the rise in sea levels, ocean acidification, and the surge in frequency of severe weather events.

Al Gore speaking about Climate Change on Ted Talks.
image: Ted.com

Human activities have also given their fair share of damage, through indiscriminate fishing, burning fossil fuels, pollution, mining, waste dumping, and overuse of natural resources.

Yes mate. The Great Barrier Reef hasn’t kicked the bucket yet. But it is slowly doing so. It is only matter of time before it is completely done.  And when that happens, we all got blood in our hands.