Chapter 7: Sixth Extinction

Rahima Khatun 
Mr. Callahan
24/08/18

Kolbert continues her journey by visiting One Tree Island, an island near the tip of the Great Barrier Reef, where scientists study the chemical composition of coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef was first discovered in 1770; scientists initially believed that corals were large underwater atolls. Now scientists know that coral reefs are "part animal, part vegetable, and part mineral.” Coral reefs contain calcifying creatures and grow over time by adding new life forms to their structure. It was only recently, however, when scientists discovered that carbon dioxide interferes with the growth of coral reefs; after the Biosphere Project failed in the 1980s, some scientists drew the conclusion that the high Co2 levels destroyed the corals’ composition. This challenged the belief that coral reefs were immune to pollution and Co2; I found this passage quite interesting because it shows that climate change is a new and developing topic that isn’t yet common knowledge. Could this be why many people, such as Donald Trump, refuse to believe in climate change?

Moreover, it’s been discovered that the coral reef demise is sooner than previously thought. The combined threats of overfishing, pollution, carbon dioxide emissions, and rising temperature of oceans increases the number of algae and plankton in the ecosystem while decreasing the good supply for coral species. Once again, this connects to the theme that humans are disrupting the environment for their own benefit; by causing the demise of reefs, we are destroying the Earth bit by bit.

As I continued reading the chapter, there was one passage that significantly stood out to be; as stated by Kolbert, “The reason I’d come to the Great Barrier Reef was to write about the scale of human influence. And yet Schneider and I seemed very, very small in the unbroken dark.” Here Kolbert is emphasizing the smallness she feels when exploring the coastal area. This stood out to me because it shows metaphorically show how insignificant humans are to the entire history of the planet. Although humans are only included in a small part of Earth’s history, our actions are causing the world to fall apart.

Here is a video of Donald Trump expressing why he thinks climate change is fake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqgMECkW3Ak