Environmentalism

As we have arrived in Cairns I was wondering more and more about how Australians view environmentalism, especially as one of the world’s natural wonders is right in their backyard. The Great Barrier Reef is being severely affected by climate change and as a result is slowly dying. After being in Sydney where it seemed like the city was trying to be especially environmentally conscious I wondered how it may have translated to preserving and saving the reef.

While we were on the boat out to the Great Barrier Reef I got the opportunity to talk to a marine biologist about the reef and some environmentalism. I thought she might have an interesting perspective on how Australia affects the marine life. She provided me with a lot of information about the reef itself and the process by which it is dying. I initially heard her talking about how at deeper depths in the ocean the reef has more or less begun to recover from the adverse effects of climate change. While, the reef in the shallower waters closer to the surface is suffering and may be at the brink of no return. When I asked her about it she told me that the water at the deeper levels is much colder than the water near the surface and therefore the coral is able to survive better and have not yet felt the full effects of higher ocean temperatures.

I also asked whether there were ways that Australian government had tried to revive the reef since it started to show signs of death. She told me that she had gone to Thailand as part of a research project where it was shown that it was possible to transplant coral onto metal rigs and have it grow successfully. However, despite this discovery the conditions at the Great Barrier Reef remain unsuitable for the transplanting to be successful. A major way the Australian government has tried to preserve parts of the reef has been assigning it zones of use. There are a wide range of zones on the reef that allow from general use such as commercial fishing to restricted preservation areas where no one can go. This seems like a productive initial way to try and protect and preserve areas on the reef.

Something I found to be truly surprising about talking with her was how she viewed the way Australians act about environmentalism. While we were in Sydney we all noted how much cleaner and more environmentally conscious Australia seemed, however in speaking with my interviewee she felt that in reality Australians are not really as environmentally conscious as the rest of the world believes them to be. This was a standpoint that I found very surprising, but in a sense I can understand why she would believe that. Mining ventures make up a major portion of Australia’s economy. Mining has a very strong impact on the environment, and usually not in a positive way. Despite the things seen in Sydney it is the carbon footprint that people and society’s leave that has the greatest impact on climate change. The interviewee’s view on saving the reef is that there is no one single thing that can be done to save it. She believes that people will require a real lifestyle change in order for there to be any kind of true change in the condition of the reef. With a change like that it is possible to save the surface areas of the reef, however she personally does not think the outlook for the surface areas of the reef is great. Despite her more pessimistic outlook, she thinks that having people go out and see parts of the reef is one of the best ways to try and save it, because people will see that the reef is suffering and feel more motivated to make a change.   

I feel that being environmentally conscious and aware is something of great importance and seeing the Great Barrier Reef in person really drove that fact home again. It was clear that as incredible as it was the reef was dead and dying in many places. The reef serves as very clear and visible thing that has been severely affected by the climate change. It is clear that the issue of climate change is not just an issue for Australia, but the rest of the world, however having a view of what Australia has done or not done to try and curb it has given me a new facet to the nation.  

-Julia Romyn