Our Global Experiment

Looking Forward: Our Global Experiment

Not only do humans affect the Earth, but the Earth affects humans as well. Most of environmental challenges are related to the rapidly increasing population. All environmental problems are connected somehow. Thus, protecting one side of the natural environment will cause different types stress on the system as a whole. Coral reefs has multiple threats pointing to it. Less than 25% of the marine environment is occupied by Coral reefs. Most of the coral species grow very slowly, about 1 cm per year. Therefore, if a ship’s anchors destroy even fragments of the coral it will have  a big effect. Even if it is a minor destruction. Over several years, different ships can eventually destroy a reef. This occurs because if many ships keep on even minorly destroying some of the coral, it is repetitive. So, not only does it take a slow time to grow back, but if it is continually getting destructed than the reef will be completely gone.

Another way to destroy the reef, and an extreme way is dynamite fishing. Dynamite fishing is when charges are set off in the water to stun or kill fish. This makes it easier to gather them. Despite the fact that dynamite fishing is illegal in most tropical countries, it is still done. So when the charge goes off, it kills the fish and at the same time destroys any coral within many meters of the blast. Humans are changing both the physical and biological environment. The future of Earth will not be only dependent on individual decisions but, nations and human societies as a whole.