Despite prepping’s reputation as a form of doomerism many left-wing preppers say they are not devoid of hope. tripscan Shonkwiler believes there will be an opportunity to create something new in the aftermath of a crisis. “It begins with preparedness and it ends with a better world” he said. Some also say there’s less tension between left- and right-wing preppers than people might expect. Bounds the sociology professor said very conservative preppers she met during her research contacted her during the Covid-19 pandemic to offer help. https://tripscan.biz трип скан There is a natural human solidarity that emerges amid disaster Killjoy said. She recalls a cashier giving her a deep discount on supplies she was buying to take to Asheville post-Helene. “I have every reason to believe that that man is right-wing and I do think that there is a transcending of political differences that happens in times of crisis” she said. As terrifying events pile up from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to deadly extreme weather it’s hard to escape the sense we live in a time of rolling existential crises — often a hair’s breadth from global disaster. People are increasingly beginning to wonder whether their views on preppers have been misconceived Mills said. “There is a bigger question floating in the air which is: Are preppers crazy or is everyone else?” Killjoy has seen a huge change over the last five years in people’s openness to prepping. Those who used to make fun of her for her “go bag” are now asking for advice. It’s not necessarily the start of a prepping boom she said. “I think it is about more and more people adopting preparedness and prepper things into a normal life.” Evidence already points this way. Americans stockpiled goods in advance of Trump’s tariffs and online sales of contraceptives skyrocketed in the wake of his election amid concerns he would reduce access. Shows like “The Walking Dead” meanwhile have thrust the idea of prepping into popular culture and big box stores now sell prepping equipment and meal kits. People are hungry to learn about preparedness said Shonkwiler. “They have the understanding that the world as we knew it and counted on it is beginning to cease to be. … What we need to be doing now is figuring out how we can survive in the world that we’ve created.”
Many left-wing preppers also have guns. трип скан Killjoy is open about the fact she owns firearms but calls it one of the least important aspects of her prepping. She lives in rural Appalachia and as a transgender woman says the way she’s treated has changed dramatically since Trump’s first election. For those on the left guns are “for community and self-defense” she said. Left-wing preppers consistently say the biggest difference between them and their right-wing peers is the rejection of “bunker mentality” — the idea of filling a bunker with beans rice guns and ammo and expecting to be able to survive the apocalypse alone. Shonkwiler gives an example of a right-wing guy with a rifle on his back who falls down the stairs and breaks a leg. If he doesn’t have medical training and a community to help “he’s going to die before he gets to enjoy all his freeze-dried food.” “People are our greatest asset” Killjoy said. When Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction through Asheville North Carolina in 2024 Killjoy who used to live in the city loaded her truck with food and generators and drove there to help. https://tripscan.biz трипскан сайт Inshirah Overton also subscribes to the idea of community. The attorney who came to prepping after enduring Hurricane Irene in 2011 owns a half-acre plot of land in New Jersey where she grows food and has beehives. She stores fruit vegetables and honey but also gives them to friends and neighbors. “My plan is to create a community of people who have a vested interest in this garden” she said. At one point Overton toyed with the idea of buying a “bug-out” property in Vermont somewhere to escape to but desire for community for her and her two daughters stopped her. In Vermont “no one knows me and I’m just a random Black lady and they’ll be like: ‘Oh OK right sure. You live here? Sure. Here’s the barrel of my shotgun. Turn around.’” This focus on community may stem in part from left-wing preppers’ growing fears around the climate crisis predicted to usher in far-reaching ecological social and economic breakdown. It cannot be escaped by retreating to a bunker for a few weeks. As Trump guts weather agencies pledges to unwind the Federal Emergency Management Administration and slashes climate funding — all while promising to unleash the fossil fuel industry — climate concerns are only coming into sharper focus. They’re top of mind for Brekke Wagoner the creator and host of the Sustainable Prepping YouTube channel who lives in North Carolina with her four children. She fears increasingly deadly summer heat and the “once-in-a-lifetime” storms that keep coming. Climate change “is just undeniable” she said. Her prepping journey started during Trump’s first term. She was living in California and filled with fear that in the event of a big natural disaster the federal government would simply not be there. Her house now contains a week’s worth of water long-term food supplies flashlights backup batteries and a solar generator. “My goal is for our family to have all of our needs cared for” she said so in an emergency whatever help is available can go to others. “You can have a preparedness plan that doesn’t involve a bunker and giving up on civilization” she said.
These preppers have ‘go bags’ guns and a fear of global disaster. They’re also left-wing tripscan The day after President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 Eric Shonkwiler looked at his hiking bag to figure out what supplies he had. “I began to look at that as a resource for escape should that need to happen” he said. He didn’t have the terminology for it at the time but this backpack was his “bug-out bag” — essential supplies for short-term survival. It marked the start of his journey into prepping. In his Ohio home which he shares with his wife and a Pomeranian dog Rosemary he now has a six-month supply of food and water a couple of firearms and a brood of chickens. “Resources to bridge the gap across a disaster” he said. https://tripscan.biz трип скан Margaret Killjoy’s entry point was a bleak warning in 2016 from a scientist friend who told her climate change was pushing the global food system closer than ever to collapse. Killjoy started collecting food water and generators. She bought a gun and learned how to use it. She started a prepping podcast Live Like the World is Dying and grew a community. Prepping has long been dominated by those on the political right. The classic stereotype albeit not always accurate is of the lone wolf with a basement full of Spam a wall full of guns and a mind full of conspiracy theories. Shonkwiler and Killjoy belong to a much smaller part of the subculture: They are left-wing preppers. This group is also preparing for a doom-filled future and many also have guns but they say their prepping emphasizes community and mutual aid over bunkers and isolationism. In an era of barreling crises — from wars to climate change — some say prepping is becoming increasingly appealing to those on the left. The roots of modern-day prepping in the United States go back to the 1950s when fears of nuclear war reached a fever pitch. The 1970s saw the emergence of the survivalist movement which dwindled in the 1990s as it became increasingly associated with an extreme-right subculture steeped in racist ideology. A third wave followed in the early 2000s when the term “prepper” began to be adopted more widely said Michael Mills a social scientist at Anglia Ruskin University who specializes in survivalism and doomsday prepping cultures. Numbers swelled following big disasters such as 9/11 Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2008 financial crisis. A watershed moment for right-wing preppers was the election of Barack Obama in 2008 Mills said. For those on the left it was Trump’s 2016 election. Preppers of all political stripes are usually motivated by a “foggy cloud of fear” rather than a belief in one specific doomsday scenario playing out Mills said. Broad anxieties tend to swirl around the possibility of economic crises pandemics natural disasters war and terrorism. “We’ve hit every one of those” since the start of this century said Anna Maria Bounds a sociology professor at Queens College who has written a book about New York’s prepper subculture. These events have solidified many preppers’ fears that in times of crisis the government would be “overwhelmed under-prepared and unwilling to help” she said.
‘Extraordinary rainstorm’ floods Nebraska city triggers water rescues трипскан An entire June’s worth of rain fell in just a few hours over Grand Island Nebraska Wednesday night triggering life-threatening flash flooding that inundated neighborhoods stranded motorists and forced water rescues. Crews have responded to dozens of calls to assist motorists stuck in flooded roads since torrential rain began Wednesday night according to Spencer Schubert the city’s communications manager. The flooding has also displaced an unspecified number of residents from their homes. https://tripscan.biz tripscan войти “At this time we have no injuries to report” Schubert said early Thursday morning noting some rescues were ongoing. Torrential rain caused sewers to back up into several homes and sent floodwater running into basements according to a Thursday news release from the city. Some affected residents took shelter at local hotels or with friends and family. “This was an extraordinary rainstorm and is very similar to the historic rains seen in the 2005 floods” Jon Rosenlund the city’s emergency director said. “We will be actively monitoring rivers creeks and other drainage areas over the next few days for future flooding issues.” Flooding in 2005 turned streets into rivers in Grand Island. At one point the city tore up a major road to open up a channel to drain flooding away from homes CNN affiliate KHGI reported. The central Nebraskan city is home to around 53000 people and is about 130 miles southwest of Omaha. The rain came to an end around sunrise Thursday but the danger remains with a flood warning in effect until 7 p.m. CDT.
This company says its technology can help save the world. It’s now cutting 20 of its staff as Trump slashes climate funding tripscan Two huge plants in Iceland operate like giant vacuum cleaners sucking in air and stripping out planet-heating carbon pollution. This much-hyped climate technology is called direct air capture and the company behind these plants Switzerland-based Climeworks is perhaps its most high-profile proponent. But a year after opening a huge new facility Climeworks is straining against strong headwinds. The company announced this month it would lay off around 20 of its workforce blaming economic uncertainties and shifting climate policy priorities. https://trip-scan.top tripscan top “We’ve always known this journey would be demanding. Today we find ourselves navigating a challenging time” Climeworks’ CEOs Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher said in a statement. This is particularly true of its US ambitions. A new direct air capture plant planned for Louisiana which received 50 million in funding from the Biden administration hangs in the balance as President Donald Trump slashes climate funding. Climeworks also faces mounting criticism for operating at only a fraction of its maximum capacity and for failing to remove more climate pollution than it emits. The company says these are teething pains inherent in setting up a new industry from scratch and that it has entered a new phase of global scale up. “The overall trajectory will be positive as we continue to define the technology” said a Climeworks spokesperson. For critics however these headwinds are evidence direct air capture is an expensive shiny distraction from effective climate action.
Преимущества автоматических рулонных штор в интерьере о нашем ассортименте. Руководство по выбору автоматических рулонных штор ваш интерьер. Почему стоит выбрать автоматические рулонные шторы в нашем магазине. Создайте уют с автоматическими рулонными шторами у проверенных специалистов. Легкость управления автоматическими рулонными шторами нашими предложениями. Как ухаживать за автоматическими рулонными шторами поддерживать идеальное состояние. Автоматические рулонные шторы в интерьере: тренды 2023 года в нашем блоге. Автоматизированные рулонные шторы: что нужно знать прочитайте. Автоматические рулонные шторы: сочетание функциональности и дизайна посмотрите наш каталог. Комфорт и уют с автоматическими рулонными шторами в нашем каталоге. Автоматические рулонные шторы — удобство в каждой детали выберите. Советы по использованию автоматических рулонных штор для оптимального освещения на нашем сайте. Технологии автоматических рулонных штор: как это работает узнайте. Эстетика автоматических рулонных штор ознакомьтесь. Как выбрать лучший бренд автоматических рулонных штор узнайте. Создайте стильный интерьер с автоматическими рулонными шторами закажите. Энергоэффективность и автоматические рулонные шторы в нашем магазине. Как автоматические рулонные шторы улучшают рабочее пространство в нашем блоге. Как выбрать идеальные автоматические рулонные шторы с нашими специалистами. Идеальные шторы для бизнеса — автоматические рулонные шторы познакомьтесь. автоматическая рулонная штора автоматическая рулонная штора .
‘Like wildfires underwater’: Worst summer on record for Great Barrier Reef as coral die-off sweeps planet
[url=https://tripscan.biz]tripscan войти[/url]
Great Barrier Reef, Australia
CNN
—
As the early-morning sun rises over the Great Barrier Reef, its light pierces the turquoise waters of a shallow lagoon, bringing more than a dozen turtles to life.
These waters that surround Lady Elliot Island, off the eastern coast of Australia, provide some of the most spectacular snorkeling in the world — but they are also on the front line of the climate crisis, as one of the first places to suffer a mass coral bleaching event that has now spread across the world. https://tripscan.biz
трипскан вход
The Great Barrier Reef just experienced its worst summer on record, and the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last month that the world is undergoing a rare global mass coral bleaching event — the fourth since the late 1990s — impacting at least 53 countries.
The corals are casualties of surging global temperatures which have smashed historical records in the past year — caused mainly by fossil fuels driving up carbon emissions and accelerated by the El Nino weather pattern, which heats ocean temperatures in this part of the world.
CNN witnessed bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in mid-February, on five different reefs spanning the northern and southern parts of the 2,300-kilometer (1,400-mile) ecosystem.
“What is happening now in our oceans is like wildfires underwater,” said Kate Quigley, principal research scientist at Australia’s Minderoo Foundation. “We’re going to have so much warming that we’re going to get to a tipping point, and we won’t be able to come back from that.”
Coral bleached white from high water temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. CNN
Bleaching occurs when marine heatwaves put corals under stress, causing them to expel algae from their tissue, draining their color. Corals can recover from bleaching if the temperatures return to normal, but they will perish if the water stays warmer than usual.
“It’s a die-off,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a climate scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia and chief scientist at The Great Barrier Reef Foundation. “The temperatures got so warm, they’re off the charts … they never occurred before at this sort of level.”
The destruction of marine ecosystems would deliver an effective death sentence for around a quarter of all species that depend on reefs for survival — and threaten an estimated billion people who rely on reef fish for their food and livelihoods. Reefs also provide vital protection for coastlines, reducing the impact of floods, cyclones and sea level rise.
“Humanity is being threatened at a rate by which I’m not sure we really understand,” Hoegh-Guldberg said.
Despite prepping’s reputation as a form of doomerism many left-wing preppers say they are not devoid of hope. tripscan Shonkwiler believes there will be an opportunity to create something new in the aftermath of a crisis. “It begins with preparedness and it ends with a better world” he said. Some also say there’s less tension between left- and right-wing preppers than people might expect. Bounds the sociology professor said very conservative preppers she met during her research contacted her during the Covid-19 pandemic to offer help. https://tripscan.biz трип скан There is a natural human solidarity that emerges amid disaster Killjoy said. She recalls a cashier giving her a deep discount on supplies she was buying to take to Asheville post-Helene. “I have every reason to believe that that man is right-wing and I do think that there is a transcending of political differences that happens in times of crisis” she said. As terrifying events pile up from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to deadly extreme weather it’s hard to escape the sense we live in a time of rolling existential crises — often a hair’s breadth from global disaster. People are increasingly beginning to wonder whether their views on preppers have been misconceived Mills said. “There is a bigger question floating in the air which is: Are preppers crazy or is everyone else?” Killjoy has seen a huge change over the last five years in people’s openness to prepping. Those who used to make fun of her for her “go bag” are now asking for advice. It’s not necessarily the start of a prepping boom she said. “I think it is about more and more people adopting preparedness and prepper things into a normal life.” Evidence already points this way. Americans stockpiled goods in advance of Trump’s tariffs and online sales of contraceptives skyrocketed in the wake of his election amid concerns he would reduce access. Shows like “The Walking Dead” meanwhile have thrust the idea of prepping into popular culture and big box stores now sell prepping equipment and meal kits. People are hungry to learn about preparedness said Shonkwiler. “They have the understanding that the world as we knew it and counted on it is beginning to cease to be. … What we need to be doing now is figuring out how we can survive in the world that we’ve created.”
Many left-wing preppers also have guns. трип скан Killjoy is open about the fact she owns firearms but calls it one of the least important aspects of her prepping. She lives in rural Appalachia and as a transgender woman says the way she’s treated has changed dramatically since Trump’s first election. For those on the left guns are “for community and self-defense” she said. Left-wing preppers consistently say the biggest difference between them and their right-wing peers is the rejection of “bunker mentality” — the idea of filling a bunker with beans rice guns and ammo and expecting to be able to survive the apocalypse alone. Shonkwiler gives an example of a right-wing guy with a rifle on his back who falls down the stairs and breaks a leg. If he doesn’t have medical training and a community to help “he’s going to die before he gets to enjoy all his freeze-dried food.” “People are our greatest asset” Killjoy said. When Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction through Asheville North Carolina in 2024 Killjoy who used to live in the city loaded her truck with food and generators and drove there to help. https://tripscan.biz трипскан сайт Inshirah Overton also subscribes to the idea of community. The attorney who came to prepping after enduring Hurricane Irene in 2011 owns a half-acre plot of land in New Jersey where she grows food and has beehives. She stores fruit vegetables and honey but also gives them to friends and neighbors. “My plan is to create a community of people who have a vested interest in this garden” she said. At one point Overton toyed with the idea of buying a “bug-out” property in Vermont somewhere to escape to but desire for community for her and her two daughters stopped her. In Vermont “no one knows me and I’m just a random Black lady and they’ll be like: ‘Oh OK right sure. You live here? Sure. Here’s the barrel of my shotgun. Turn around.’” This focus on community may stem in part from left-wing preppers’ growing fears around the climate crisis predicted to usher in far-reaching ecological social and economic breakdown. It cannot be escaped by retreating to a bunker for a few weeks. As Trump guts weather agencies pledges to unwind the Federal Emergency Management Administration and slashes climate funding — all while promising to unleash the fossil fuel industry — climate concerns are only coming into sharper focus. They’re top of mind for Brekke Wagoner the creator and host of the Sustainable Prepping YouTube channel who lives in North Carolina with her four children. She fears increasingly deadly summer heat and the “once-in-a-lifetime” storms that keep coming. Climate change “is just undeniable” she said. Her prepping journey started during Trump’s first term. She was living in California and filled with fear that in the event of a big natural disaster the federal government would simply not be there. Her house now contains a week’s worth of water long-term food supplies flashlights backup batteries and a solar generator. “My goal is for our family to have all of our needs cared for” she said so in an emergency whatever help is available can go to others. “You can have a preparedness plan that doesn’t involve a bunker and giving up on civilization” she said.
These preppers have ‘go bags’ guns and a fear of global disaster. They’re also left-wing tripscan The day after President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 Eric Shonkwiler looked at his hiking bag to figure out what supplies he had. “I began to look at that as a resource for escape should that need to happen” he said. He didn’t have the terminology for it at the time but this backpack was his “bug-out bag” — essential supplies for short-term survival. It marked the start of his journey into prepping. In his Ohio home which he shares with his wife and a Pomeranian dog Rosemary he now has a six-month supply of food and water a couple of firearms and a brood of chickens. “Resources to bridge the gap across a disaster” he said. https://tripscan.biz трип скан Margaret Killjoy’s entry point was a bleak warning in 2016 from a scientist friend who told her climate change was pushing the global food system closer than ever to collapse. Killjoy started collecting food water and generators. She bought a gun and learned how to use it. She started a prepping podcast Live Like the World is Dying and grew a community. Prepping has long been dominated by those on the political right. The classic stereotype albeit not always accurate is of the lone wolf with a basement full of Spam a wall full of guns and a mind full of conspiracy theories. Shonkwiler and Killjoy belong to a much smaller part of the subculture: They are left-wing preppers. This group is also preparing for a doom-filled future and many also have guns but they say their prepping emphasizes community and mutual aid over bunkers and isolationism. In an era of barreling crises — from wars to climate change — some say prepping is becoming increasingly appealing to those on the left. The roots of modern-day prepping in the United States go back to the 1950s when fears of nuclear war reached a fever pitch. The 1970s saw the emergence of the survivalist movement which dwindled in the 1990s as it became increasingly associated with an extreme-right subculture steeped in racist ideology. A third wave followed in the early 2000s when the term “prepper” began to be adopted more widely said Michael Mills a social scientist at Anglia Ruskin University who specializes in survivalism and doomsday prepping cultures. Numbers swelled following big disasters such as 9/11 Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2008 financial crisis. A watershed moment for right-wing preppers was the election of Barack Obama in 2008 Mills said. For those on the left it was Trump’s 2016 election. Preppers of all political stripes are usually motivated by a “foggy cloud of fear” rather than a belief in one specific doomsday scenario playing out Mills said. Broad anxieties tend to swirl around the possibility of economic crises pandemics natural disasters war and terrorism. “We’ve hit every one of those” since the start of this century said Anna Maria Bounds a sociology professor at Queens College who has written a book about New York’s prepper subculture. These events have solidified many preppers’ fears that in times of crisis the government would be “overwhelmed under-prepared and unwilling to help” she said.
‘Extraordinary rainstorm’ floods Nebraska city triggers water rescues трипскан An entire June’s worth of rain fell in just a few hours over Grand Island Nebraska Wednesday night triggering life-threatening flash flooding that inundated neighborhoods stranded motorists and forced water rescues. Crews have responded to dozens of calls to assist motorists stuck in flooded roads since torrential rain began Wednesday night according to Spencer Schubert the city’s communications manager. The flooding has also displaced an unspecified number of residents from their homes. https://tripscan.biz tripscan войти “At this time we have no injuries to report” Schubert said early Thursday morning noting some rescues were ongoing. Torrential rain caused sewers to back up into several homes and sent floodwater running into basements according to a Thursday news release from the city. Some affected residents took shelter at local hotels or with friends and family. “This was an extraordinary rainstorm and is very similar to the historic rains seen in the 2005 floods” Jon Rosenlund the city’s emergency director said. “We will be actively monitoring rivers creeks and other drainage areas over the next few days for future flooding issues.” Flooding in 2005 turned streets into rivers in Grand Island. At one point the city tore up a major road to open up a channel to drain flooding away from homes CNN affiliate KHGI reported. The central Nebraskan city is home to around 53000 people and is about 130 miles southwest of Omaha. The rain came to an end around sunrise Thursday but the danger remains with a flood warning in effect until 7 p.m. CDT.
This company says its technology can help save the world. It’s now cutting 20 of its staff as Trump slashes climate funding tripscan Two huge plants in Iceland operate like giant vacuum cleaners sucking in air and stripping out planet-heating carbon pollution. This much-hyped climate technology is called direct air capture and the company behind these plants Switzerland-based Climeworks is perhaps its most high-profile proponent. But a year after opening a huge new facility Climeworks is straining against strong headwinds. The company announced this month it would lay off around 20 of its workforce blaming economic uncertainties and shifting climate policy priorities. https://trip-scan.top tripscan top “We’ve always known this journey would be demanding. Today we find ourselves navigating a challenging time” Climeworks’ CEOs Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher said in a statement. This is particularly true of its US ambitions. A new direct air capture plant planned for Louisiana which received 50 million in funding from the Biden administration hangs in the balance as President Donald Trump slashes climate funding. Climeworks also faces mounting criticism for operating at only a fraction of its maximum capacity and for failing to remove more climate pollution than it emits. The company says these are teething pains inherent in setting up a new industry from scratch and that it has entered a new phase of global scale up. “The overall trajectory will be positive as we continue to define the technology” said a Climeworks spokesperson. For critics however these headwinds are evidence direct air capture is an expensive shiny distraction from effective climate action.
Преимущества автоматических рулонных штор в интерьере о нашем ассортименте. Руководство по выбору автоматических рулонных штор ваш интерьер. Почему стоит выбрать автоматические рулонные шторы в нашем магазине. Создайте уют с автоматическими рулонными шторами у проверенных специалистов. Легкость управления автоматическими рулонными шторами нашими предложениями. Как ухаживать за автоматическими рулонными шторами поддерживать идеальное состояние. Автоматические рулонные шторы в интерьере: тренды 2023 года в нашем блоге. Автоматизированные рулонные шторы: что нужно знать прочитайте. Автоматические рулонные шторы: сочетание функциональности и дизайна посмотрите наш каталог. Комфорт и уют с автоматическими рулонными шторами в нашем каталоге. Автоматические рулонные шторы — удобство в каждой детали выберите. Советы по использованию автоматических рулонных штор для оптимального освещения на нашем сайте. Технологии автоматических рулонных штор: как это работает узнайте. Эстетика автоматических рулонных штор ознакомьтесь. Как выбрать лучший бренд автоматических рулонных штор узнайте. Создайте стильный интерьер с автоматическими рулонными шторами закажите. Энергоэффективность и автоматические рулонные шторы в нашем магазине. Как автоматические рулонные шторы улучшают рабочее пространство в нашем блоге. Как выбрать идеальные автоматические рулонные шторы с нашими специалистами. Идеальные шторы для бизнеса — автоматические рулонные шторы познакомьтесь. автоматическая рулонная штора автоматическая рулонная штора .
‘Like wildfires underwater’: Worst summer on record for Great Barrier Reef as coral die-off sweeps planet
[url=https://tripscan.biz]tripscan войти[/url]
Great Barrier Reef, Australia
CNN
—
As the early-morning sun rises over the Great Barrier Reef, its light pierces the turquoise waters of a shallow lagoon, bringing more than a dozen turtles to life.
These waters that surround Lady Elliot Island, off the eastern coast of Australia, provide some of the most spectacular snorkeling in the world — but they are also on the front line of the climate crisis, as one of the first places to suffer a mass coral bleaching event that has now spread across the world.
https://tripscan.biz
трипскан вход
The Great Barrier Reef just experienced its worst summer on record, and the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last month that the world is undergoing a rare global mass coral bleaching event — the fourth since the late 1990s — impacting at least 53 countries.
The corals are casualties of surging global temperatures which have smashed historical records in the past year — caused mainly by fossil fuels driving up carbon emissions and accelerated by the El Nino weather pattern, which heats ocean temperatures in this part of the world.
CNN witnessed bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in mid-February, on five different reefs spanning the northern and southern parts of the 2,300-kilometer (1,400-mile) ecosystem.
“What is happening now in our oceans is like wildfires underwater,” said Kate Quigley, principal research scientist at Australia’s Minderoo Foundation. “We’re going to have so much warming that we’re going to get to a tipping point, and we won’t be able to come back from that.”
Coral bleached white from high water temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. CNN
Bleaching occurs when marine heatwaves put corals under stress, causing them to expel algae from their tissue, draining their color. Corals can recover from bleaching if the temperatures return to normal, but they will perish if the water stays warmer than usual.
“It’s a die-off,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a climate scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia and chief scientist at The Great Barrier Reef Foundation. “The temperatures got so warm, they’re off the charts … they never occurred before at this sort of level.”
The destruction of marine ecosystems would deliver an effective death sentence for around a quarter of all species that depend on reefs for survival — and threaten an estimated billion people who rely on reef fish for their food and livelihoods. Reefs also provide vital protection for coastlines, reducing the impact of floods, cyclones and sea level rise.
“Humanity is being threatened at a rate by which I’m not sure we really understand,” Hoegh-Guldberg said.