Reflection

Last year I found out about coral bleaching; with climate change’s warming waters, corals literally bleach themselves of colour and nutrition, leaving them completely white in colour, and uninhabitable. Probably one of the most publicised instances of coral bleaching is that of the Great Barrier. People who’ve heard about coral bleaching have probably heard the statistic that over 50% of it is dead, and unfortunately, it’s not an exaggeration. According to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, 93% of the reef is impacted by bleaching, a number that continues to grow. In my piece, the figure of that man represents the human race currently. Climate change is an unpleasant topic to think about, so sometimes we willingly “blind” ourselves to it, which is why his eyes are obscured. The beautiful reef is slowly disappearing, and implies soon the iceberg will too. First, we will lose the most beautiful parts of the earth, and then when our ‘iceberg’ is gone, we’ll be blind, faced with nothing to keep us afloat in the ocean. I hope viewers of my piece can be more aware of coral bleaching, as well as think about the future of humanity’s relationship with the ocean.