One of the catastrophic predictions put forth as a “scientific fact” by the climate cult is that unless dramatic actions are taken to eliminate fossil fuels, the death of the Great Barrier Reef is assured. Unfortunately for the climatistas, the reef just isn’t cooperating, as it has achieved a record level of coverage for the third consecutive year.
A sacred cant of the climate cult is that global warming has caused “bleaching” of the Great Barrier Reef, resulting in decreased coral coverage, and setting the reef on the road to extinction. That is all nonsense, and it is being disproved by the reef itself as it continues to grow.
Before the current rebound, there was actually a tremendous decrease in the reef’s coverage about 15 years ago, but the cause was not water temperatures nor CO2 in the atmosphere, rather it was due to a powerful hurricane crossing directly over the reef, an event that is not uncommon in those tropical waters.
This Guardian story from a decade ago was clearly wrong, but it is also typical of what has been accepted as the scientific truth regarding the Great Barrier Reef.
“Great Barrier Reef damage ‘irreversible’ unless radical action taken” [Guardian – 3/06/2014]
The Great Barrier Reef will suffer “irreversible” damage by 2030 unless radical action is taken to lower carbon emissions, a stark new report has warned.
But the truth about the reef has played out quite differently…
“After a trillion tons of CO2, the Great Barrier Reef hits record coral cover third year in a row” [Joanne Nova – CFACT – 6/30/2024]
After a trillion tons of CO2, the Great Barrier Reef hits record coral cover third year in a row. Sixty percent of all human CO2 emissions have been emitted since 1985, but today, the corals are healthier than ever.
Bjorn Lomborg has been doing some outstanding research using the official government records of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and he’s found that not only is the Great Barrier Reef not in peril, but that its expanse has set a new record, as it thrives and continues to grow. Using the Australian government’s own records, he has put together this graph, showing the reef’s coral coverage over the past four decades.
The red-dashed line was the doom scenario that had been promoted by the “97% consensus” of climate apocalysts, whereas the blue line is reality. As has been the case time and time again regarding the climate hoax, the prophecies of doom that were reported as scientific facts turned out to be nothing but junk science mixed with enviro-communism.
At 2005 the Great Barrier Reef’s coral cover was just about the same as it had been 25 years earlier, with some upcycles and downcycles in coverage over the years. But for a few years starting in 2010 there was a pronounced decline in the reef’s cover. It had nothing to do with climate, and everything to do with a hurricane, which is known as a cyclone in those parts. Cyclone Hamish in 2009 didn’t strike Australia perpendicularly, rather it ran parallel to the coastline, scouring the Great Barrier Reef along the way, as shown in this map of its track.
“Research Reveals Cyclone’s Ravages on the Reef” [Australia Institute of Marine Science – 8/20/2009]
The Great Barrier Reef was severely buffeted by Severe Tropical Cyclone Hamish, which roared down a substantial part of the reef system, causing widespread though variable damage and in some places reducing coral cover from 70 per cent to 10 per cent.
How did the cyclone damage the reef?
Damage ranged from "exfoliation", where the reef matrix was removed along with all that grew on it, leaving bare limestone, to "scouring" that essentially stripped all living tissue from living corals, to coral breakage in which massive coral heads as well as more delicate branching corals broke off.
Under normal circumstances then, how long would it take the reef to recover from the damage of Cyclone Hamish? The answer is about a decade or so.
Based on past experience with similar reefs, the researchers estimate that coral should recover in eight to 15 years, if there are no further major disturbances such as cyclones or coral bleaching or declines in water quality which might reduce the resilience of these reefs.
Take a look at Bjorn Lomborg’s graph again. It’s now been 15 years and the Great Barrier Reef has fully recovered from Cyclone Hamish and is now setting records for coral cover.
All the hysteria about the death of the Great Barrier Reef due to carbon and bleaching was a massive lie in support of the climate hoax. Just like forests naturally recovering from wildfires, coral reefs naturally recover from hurricane scouring, and CO2 has nothing to with either.
But the propaganda press is unrelenting in its doomsday environmental prognostications. Despite the Great Barrier Reef currently being at a record level of coral coverage, and despite the reef defying decades of predictions of its demise, the NY Times ran yet another story about the death of the Great Barrier Reef just last week.
These climate carnival barkers have lost all credibility. They have consistently been wrong in their prior predictions about the Great Barrier Reef, yet they continue to roll out new prophecies of environmental doom.
[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]