In chapter 7, it beings in a place found in the southernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The place is called One Tree Island. Kolbert goes to the island to visit a small research station that works with the University of Sydney. At this station, scientists from around the world study the chemical composition of the nearby coral reefs. Before Kolbert describes her journey at the station, she gives background information about the place. Therefore, the first Europeans to see the Great Barrier Reef was Captain James Cook and his crew in 1770. Later, we find out that coral reefs grow over time. Recent scientific papers have argued that, by the year 2050, the Great Barrier Reef will have eroded into a ”rubble bank”. In this part of the chapter, Caldeira, a scientist that works in the station, takes Kolbert on a diving expedition to photograph octopi. Kolbert goes with the scientists stationed on One Tree Island and sees the beauty of sea life. She sees stingrays, turtles, sharks, fish, and, above all, coral. During her final days on One Tree Island, Kolbert observes the mating of the birds. Later, she notes the irony of her feeling—even though she’d come to One Tree Island to write about the enormous influence of human beings on the environment, she herself felt utterly insignificant when contemplating the environment.
This was because the high carbon dioxide levels eroded the composition of coral inside the Biosphere, challenging the then-common notion that coral reefs are immune to changes in carbon dioxide levels.
Once per year, the corals of the Great Barrier Reef participate in a “mass spawning”, an event during which corals reproduce asexually, creating millions of tiny egg-sperm bundles. However, the dangers of acidification and high levels of carbon dioxide levels eroded doesn’t guarantee a safe place for the creatures of the Great Barrier Reef to remain alive.
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