Impossible things

Science, denial and the Great Barrier Reef

Featured in

  • Published 20170801
  • ISBN: 9781925498417
  • Extent: 264pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

IN THE SUMMER of 2016 everything changes. Portentous news should come by phone, or a knock on the door, maybe a letter dropping onto a mat. But in this case, it is everywhere. Inescapable. The Great Barrier Reef is dying, some say dead. A wave of bleaching has swept across the coral. The reef is large – the size of Japan – and it takes months to confirm what scientists already suspect. This coral-bleaching event, caused by unusually warm waters, is the worst in history.

When the surveys are released, I delve into the details. The northern reef is the worst. More than 80 per cent of the coral around Lizard Island has died. The shock is visceral, like news of a car crash. I glance up at the framed photos next to my desk: a clown fish nestles in an anemone, and a violet nudibranch dances in blue. I’d taken the photos with my ancient underwater camera, a Nikonos III, on one of those long-ago dives. Those glorious reefs. Gone. In an instant.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Lisa Walker

Lisa Walker has worked as a zoological research assistant, lecturer in environmental interpretation, environmental educator and community relations officer for the NSW National Parks...

More from this edition

When everybody does better

EssayPOPULISM – THE WORD – is surging. It has become the label of convenience for journalists, commentators and politicians to pin on any and all deplorable...

A case of Dutch melancholy

MemoirI FIRST VISITED the Netherlands in 2002, just after the Dutch had kissed goodbye to their beloved guilders and embraced the euro. The atmosphere...

Held on trust

EssayONE OF THE key reasons that freedom of expression is so hotly contested in Australia, as elsewhere, is that it can be viewed from...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.