The Sea is Turning White

Welcome to “Saving the Earth,” a series of articles born to inform the Georgia Tech community about the impacts of climate change and what we can do to stop it. Stay tuned to learn what you can do on campus to help the environment.

Photo by Q.U.I on Unsplash

I grew up on the coast of Venezuela. I used to snorkel, holding my breath as much as I could, just to have a glance at what was going on under the sea. It was magical to see all the animals living in this beautiful city made out of other animals. Corals were the star of the show. They are all very different and beautiful at the same time. Some look like big brains and others look like flames that could actually make your skin feel on fire. But one day I noticed that white corals were appearing everywhere and that they had all different forms. It took me a few months to realize that they were skeletons. Now, I know why this happens and why it is bad news.

For all of you who didn’t know, corals are not just beautiful rocks decorating the seafloor. They are extremely resilient living organisms that can live for many years. Corals offer protection for many species and help regulate ocean tides. Without them, the marine ecosystem would be severely damaged.

So why are they dying? The simple answer is that it is getting just too hot. The majority of the radiation that the earth is not able to reflect to space is absorbed by the ocean. Greenhouse gases that humans emit cause the atmosphere to trap more radiation, causing the oceans to heat. The sea life is experiencing global warming in a more advanced stage than we do on land.

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with algae that lives inside of them. They need each other to live. The temperature change causes the coral to feel sick, and it reacts by expelling the algae from the system, similar to when we have a fever. The coral’s immune response is to expel all organisms from its body, but this causes the coral to die because it needs the products that the algae photosynthesizes.

Coral bleaching is the beginning of the end for the environment. Without corals the marine ecosystem will rapidly die off, since most of the species use them as nurseries. We will also start to see the effects on land since corals offer protection from high tides. Ultimately, the best we can do for corals is to control climate change and try to reverse the damage we have done. Georgia Tech students can participate in volunteering activities or even have a fellowship with SLS to create a positive impact in our carbon footprint.

To learn more about why the ocean is turning white please use one of these pages:

1. “Chasing Coral”, documentary by Jeff Orlowski. Available in Netflix
2. “Everything You Need to Know about Coral Bleaching-And How We Can Stop It.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/pages/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coral-bleaching-and-how-we-can-stop-it.
3. “What Is Coral Bleaching and What Causes It — Fight For Our Reef.” Australian Marine Conservation Society, 18 Dec. 2020, www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/.
4. Greenpeace East Asia. “What Is Coral? What Are the Causes, Impacts, and Solutions of Coral Bleaching?” Greenpeace East Asia, www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/blog/6119/what-is-coral-what-are-the-causes-impacts-and-solutions-of-coral-bleaching/.