May 4, 2025
Coral Bleaching Across 82 Countries: Why This Global Event Is the Deadliest Yet
Coral bleaching is not just a temporary event—it’s a climate emergency that can unfold over years. In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, host Andrew Lewin dives deep into the devastating history of global coral bleaching events, revealing...
Coral bleaching is not just a temporary event—it’s a climate emergency that can unfold over years. In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, host Andrew Lewin dives deep into the devastating history of global coral bleaching events, revealing how the fourth and current one (2023–2025) is affecting over 80% of coral reefs worldwide. From the Great Barrier Reef to the Caribbean, bleaching is now a global phenomenon threatening biodiversity, food security, and coastal protection.
Climate change and rising ocean temperatures are causing corals to lose the vital algae that keep them alive. This episode unpacks the four global bleaching events (1998, 2010, 2014–2017, and now), explores why reefs are slow to recover, and explains what’s at stake for humans and marine ecosystems. You’ll also hear about the essential roles that coral reefs play—from acting as biodiversity hotspots to protecting coastlines during extreme weather events.
Link to article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/23/coral-reef-bleaching-worst-global-event-on-record
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Transcript
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When somebody tells you that a coral reef
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has bleached, what
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goes through your mind?
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Do you think that it only happens over a
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couple of days, maybe
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one day, maybe a couple of
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weeks?
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And then after that, the temperature goes
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down and the coral recovers, right?
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That's what you probably think.
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Today we're going to be talking about
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coral bleaching events
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that happen over years.
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There's going to be four that we're going
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to be talking about.
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We're going to go into a little bit of
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detail in each one, but
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we're currently in one since
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2023 now to 2025.
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We have seen 80% of coral reefs globally
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that have bleached in this span.
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It's not only in the Great Barrier Reef.
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It's not only in Indonesia
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or in the Southeast Pacific.
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It's also in the Caribbean.
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It's also in the Atlantic.
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It's also in the Indian Ocean.
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It's also everywhere.
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It's pretty much
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everywhere that we monitor reefs.
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And this is something that we have to
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talk about on today's episode of the how
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to protect the ocean podcast.
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Let's start the show.
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Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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exciting episode of the how
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to protect the ocean podcast.
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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is
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the podcast where you find out what's
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happening with the ocean,
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and what's happening with the ocean.
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And I'm going to show you the whole game of their series and be able to
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eliminate the other senators.
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But this is what
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Canadians do when we do work.
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We kind of look down every once in a
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while to check the score to make sure
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that the leaves are winning.
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They're losing right now.
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A little nervous.
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That's okay.
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We're going to get back into the episode.
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Look, we're going to be talking about
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coral reef bleaching
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and not just over days.
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I think what a lot of people think and
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sort of I thought when I first heard of
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coral reef bleaching because coral reefs
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can recover after bleaching.
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And we're going to go into what bleaching
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is in just a second.
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But I want you to understand the urgency
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of the current bleaching crisis.
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So we need to look at troubling history
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of global bleaching events
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over the past few decades.
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There have been four major events.
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Each one have been more
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devastating than the last.
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So the first one was in 1998 driven by a
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powerful El Nino combined with rising
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global temperatures, climate change.
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It was the first time the world saw mass
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coral death on a global scale.
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So not just bleach, but
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actual death on a global scale.
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About 16% of the world's reef like across
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the world were affected with the parts of
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the Indian Ocean losing
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up to 90% of their coral.
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That is a huge amount.
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Then came 2010.
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So we had about 12 years in between
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another intense El Nino like pattern hit
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and it triggered a
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global bleaching again.
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Right.
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Once again, while it wasn't as deadly as
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1998, it served as a warning that these
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events were no longer rare.
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They were becoming more frequent.
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So you think about 1998,
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you have a major bleaching.
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I remember people like I remember
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politicians going, especially Ted Cruz
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going on like a talk show, like a
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celebrity talk show.
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I think it was Letterman
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or something like that.
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And they were talking
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about, you know, the quarries.
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They were talking about bleaching and
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they're talking about just temperature in
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general at that time.
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Climate denial was in full fledged like
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the Republicans and conservatives here in
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Canada were just denying everything.
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Kyoto Protocol was not
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even really a thing yet.
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But people were talking about that as
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like the Paris agreement of the 2000s.
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But, you know, it was starting to be
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talked about more and more because
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scientists kept observing these bleaching
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events and then also mass die
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offs and temperature rising.
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We started to see a pattern change more
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and more and we're warning people.
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I remember going, I was
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getting school at this point.
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I remember scientists and professors were
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saying, we are in trouble
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if we do not act in 1998.
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In 1998, we were going to be
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in trouble if we didn't act.
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Look, we are now 2025.
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We haven't acted as
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fast as what we needed to.
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But then, you know, you go 2010, you
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think you're done, you think you're OK,
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you think out of it
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denialism is still hot and ready.
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You know, people are just still denying.
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The oil and gas companies are strong in
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their PR and they
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just continue to do that.
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You get another bleach event.
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Not as bad, but you get
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another bleaching event.
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But all this talk about denial, people
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are like, yeah, well, you know what?
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You know, we saw a peak in 1980 and then
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it started to go down a bit.
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So it's starting to decrease.
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And you know what was happening is if you
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just looked at from 1998 to 2010, yeah,
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it didn't look like it was fluctuating
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and looked like it was going
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down because 1998 was so high.
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But when you looked at the entire graph,
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like for the last 100 or 200 years, you
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can definitely see from the industrial
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age, you started to see, whoo, it started
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to go up and then it started to kind of
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tail off a little bit, but still continue
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to rise, which we know today continues to
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rise, not as quickly, but it's still
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rising and rising and rising.
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And so we continue to get hotter and
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hotter years and break
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records every single year.
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We're in a bleaching event.
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But the third bleaching event happened
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between 2014 and 2017.
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This was the longest and most widespread
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bleaching event on record at the time.
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It struck hard across the Pacific, the
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Indian and the Atlantic oceans.
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The Great Barrier Reef in particular
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suffered catastrophic losses.
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Parts of it experienced back to back
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bleaching with little time to recover.
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So again, coral reefs can recover from
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bleaching, but if it's too long, you
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know, if it's one of those times where
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it's like the temperature stays long,
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like above 40 degrees Celsius for too
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long in a row in too many days in a row,
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we're talking about 40, 50 days, then
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bleaching will continue and the coral
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will eventually die because it can't get
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the products it needs from
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the algae that's in them.
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Right. We'll talk about
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that in just a second.
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So from 2014 to 2017 was the third event.
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That's three years. That's three years,
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right? And you're sitting there, you're
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like, hold on a second here. That was the
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longest. Now we're in the midst of a
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fourth global bleaching event.
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And from 2023 and we're now today 2025.
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So we don't know when this is ending.
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It's not ending. It hasn't ended yet.
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It's already the worst on record with
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more than 80 percent. 80 percent of coral
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reefs across 82 countries showing signs of a global bleaching event.
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And that's why we're talking about the kinds of bleaching. What's especially
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alarming is that even the most remote and
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previously resilient areas like Raja and
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pot and the Gulf of a lot have been hit
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and are seeing death with their corals.
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Right. So this isn't just a climate
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story. This is a biodiversity story. This
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is a food security story. This is a human
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story. This is affecting people across 82
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countries, maybe even more.
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Each bleaching event chips away at
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ecosystems that could take centuries to
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build. And unless we change our course,
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the next one may even come
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sooner and hit harder for longer.
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This is devastating to so many people
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around the world that depend on reefs for
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food and for security. Coral reefs are
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biodiversity hotspots that they contain
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about a third of the species
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in the ocean that we know of.
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There's probably a lot more, but they
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contain a third of the species that we
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know of. And so having coral reefs there
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are very important in particular coral
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reefs. So like what we call the reef
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building coral reefs, right? The corals.
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So the Staghorn, the branching corals,
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the Montipora, which is the flat corals,
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sort of the plate corals as they call
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them, right? Those types of corals are
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reef building. They build out those
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reefs. They provide those hiding spots
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that brings in the biodiversity of
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invertebrates and
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vertebrates like fish and so forth.
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Inverbers like crab shrimp and that kind
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of stuff that brings in all the big fish.
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It brings in the sharks. It brings in
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everything. It's this home that is a huge
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biodiversity hotspot, but it also
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provides security for the coastline. Back
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in 2004 when we had the tsunami on
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Christmas day, right? Christmas and
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boxing day in the Indian Ocean.
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They're affected Africa, affected South
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Asia, and it affected a lot of the
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islands in the Southeast Pacific. These
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places were devastated in the places that
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actually survived the best and did the
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best from a coastal resilient point of
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view had coral reefs that were intact,
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had seagrass beds that were intact, had
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mangroves that were intact.
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Meaning that they were up and running and
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they were healthy. A lot of places that
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didn't have those coral systems or
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seagrass systems or mangrove systems had
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huge losses of not only people, but just
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land because the water
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just went right over it.
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There was nothing to stop it. The coastal
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security that coral reefs provide is
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dissipation of energy from waves. That
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means if a tsunami wave comes over, it's
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got all this energy. It's got all this
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momentum and it hits a coral reef.
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All that coral reef with this branching
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corals and all these different areas, it
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provides resistance to the wave. So the
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energy, the speed and the power
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dissipates as it goes over the reef and
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then it'll dissipate again as it go over
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seagrass habitat and it'll dissipate
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again as it goes over mangrove habitat,
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especially when it starts to come on
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land. These mangroves are thick.
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If you've never tried to trek through a
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mangrove area without those nice
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boardwalks that sometimes people put
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through, it's almost impossible. So when
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a wave hits those, then it really
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dissipates the energy and it breaks up
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the waves and it's not as hard hit that
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city or village or towns that are behind
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there are not hardest hit.
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So that's what happened in 2004. But now,
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like even as bleaching events started to
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happen and it continues to happen longer
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and longer periods and getting worse and
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worse. So in 2014 to 2017, 60% of the
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corals around the world died. Now it's
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80% not recovering guys. This is not
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recovering very well.
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And what's going to happen over time is
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we're going to see a change in the makeup
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of corals. So we're going to get less of
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these hard corals, like the staghorn
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corals, the branching
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corals and the plate corals.
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And we're going to start to see more soft
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corals that maybe are a little bit more
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heat resistant. So let's get into why
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that's important to know. So when you
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look at a coral reef, right, it has this
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hard body a lot of the times or soft
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body, depending if it's
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hard coral or soft coral.
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But it has this body has this like
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skeleton and a lot of times like the hard
308
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corals are like a limestone skeleton. And
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over that skeleton, you have this fleshy
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material, which is the coral and that
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00:10:07,541 --> 00:10:11,625
coral gets its food from this little tiny
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microscopic organism called a zoo and LA.
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It's basically an algae cell and many,
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many algae cells within this body within
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this kind of coral skeleton, if you will.
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And that algae gets its energy from the
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sun from photosynthesis. That's how it
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feeds and the byproducts of that is like
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00:10:30,125 --> 00:10:32,333
calcium and other stuff. Right. And so
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00:10:32,333 --> 00:10:34,750
that calcium helps build the coral reefs.
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It helps build the skeleton of that
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course with the fleshiness can stand on
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top and the food, it gets like the
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byproducts, it gets and it actually
325
00:10:41,583 --> 00:10:43,208
becomes a healthy coral. That's the
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00:10:43,208 --> 00:10:43,708
simplistic version of the coral.
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00:10:43,708 --> 00:10:45,000
And that's the simplistic version of how
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a coral eats and how it becomes so
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beautiful in the different colors and the
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00:10:48,666 --> 00:10:51,166
radiant colors. It's the algae inside
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that reflect those colors, right? That's
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00:10:53,250 --> 00:10:55,083
what we're seeing. Now, if the water gets
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00:10:55,083 --> 00:10:57,458
too hot, those algae are like, I don't
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like it in here. I'm out of here. And
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they get expelled. Even the corals like,
336
00:11:01,333 --> 00:11:03,500
no, you got to go. It's getting too hot.
337
00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:04,916
I can't handle you in here. You got to
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00:11:04,916 --> 00:11:07,666
go. I got to start looking at my body and
339
00:11:07,666 --> 00:11:09,375
starting to just contain it whatever I
340
00:11:09,375 --> 00:11:11,166
can. So it expels the zoo
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00:11:11,166 --> 00:11:12,708
and LA into the water column.
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00:11:12,750 --> 00:11:14,916
As long as the temperature stays that
343
00:11:14,916 --> 00:11:16,750
temperature, the corals like, no, I got
344
00:11:16,750 --> 00:11:18,333
to get rid of everything. So it loses its
345
00:11:18,333 --> 00:11:20,291
color. Eventually loses like the
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00:11:20,291 --> 00:11:22,708
fleshiness of the coral around it. All
347
00:11:22,708 --> 00:11:24,333
the polyps, all those little polyps that
348
00:11:24,333 --> 00:11:26,833
feed and then the coral can't sustain
349
00:11:26,833 --> 00:11:29,666
itself. If the zoo, it like goes away for
350
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too long, then it won't come back and the
351
00:11:32,750 --> 00:11:34,083
coral dies because it has no way of
352
00:11:34,083 --> 00:11:36,958
feeding. If the temperature goes down and
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00:11:36,958 --> 00:11:38,791
the zoo, I thought it comes back. These
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00:11:38,791 --> 00:11:40,708
little algae cells come back.
355
00:11:40,708 --> 00:11:43,041
Then it can recover a little bit
356
00:11:43,041 --> 00:11:43,666
depending on how badly it's gone or how long it's been bleached. That's why you get the white bleaching is when the zoo and they are out, you lose the color is white. It's bleached. But when it comes back, it can be healthy again. Now we have to even go further down is looking at the different
types of zoo and delay. Now the research that I've done a while ago is there's pretty much four different types. You got ABC and D will keep it as simplistic as possible. Now, certain zoo and delay will react at certain temperatures. That's why coral reefs, they're very important to the
357
00:12:10,708 --> 00:12:12,333
sea. They're very sensitive to outside
358
00:12:12,333 --> 00:12:14,416
changes. They don't like changes. If
359
00:12:14,416 --> 00:12:17,458
you've ever had a marine or ocean like or
360
00:12:17,458 --> 00:12:19,500
saltwater tank and you've had corals in
361
00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:22,000
there, you realize how important it is to
362
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,500
keep the water at certain measurements,
363
00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:25,916
temperature has to stay within a certain
364
00:12:25,916 --> 00:12:27,916
range. PH has to stay within a certain
365
00:12:27,916 --> 00:12:30,541
range. The light has to be there for it
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00:12:30,541 --> 00:12:33,875
and it can't be shaded by another rock or
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00:12:33,875 --> 00:12:35,291
another coral or even algae that grows on top. It's very specific. And any time those values go out, they can be
368
00:12:40,750 --> 00:12:42,500
outside of that range. The coral is not
369
00:12:42,500 --> 00:12:44,208
healthy. So if you get the temperature
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00:12:44,208 --> 00:12:46,500
that comes in and heats it up, then the
371
00:12:46,500 --> 00:12:48,541
zoo and I get expelled and that happens.
372
00:12:48,541 --> 00:12:50,750
So if it happens for over a long period
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of time, you're not going to get that zoo
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00:12:52,583 --> 00:12:54,375
and deli back and you're going to get
375
00:12:54,375 --> 00:12:56,666
death to the coral going back to the
376
00:12:56,666 --> 00:12:58,750
different types of zoo and deli. They
377
00:12:58,750 --> 00:13:00,791
have different heat signatures. So
378
00:13:00,791 --> 00:13:02,875
different ranges of tolerance for heat.
379
00:13:03,375 --> 00:13:04,875
So if you think about it, and I don't
380
00:13:04,875 --> 00:13:06,041
know for sure. But if you think about a
381
00:13:06,041 --> 00:13:08,250
as the lowest range, so it's very
382
00:13:08,250 --> 00:13:10,625
specific. So if anything goes above or
383
00:13:10,708 --> 00:13:13,500
outside of that range by going higher or
384
00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:14,875
even lower, but in this case, it's going
385
00:13:14,875 --> 00:13:16,458
higher than those who went there, they
386
00:13:16,458 --> 00:13:18,583
were like, I'm out. We're gone. B is a
387
00:13:18,583 --> 00:13:19,958
little higher tolerance. C is a little
388
00:13:19,958 --> 00:13:21,375
higher tolerance and D is a little higher
389
00:13:21,375 --> 00:13:23,541
tolerance, right? And D is what people
390
00:13:23,541 --> 00:13:25,541
are looking at and really looking at what
391
00:13:25,541 --> 00:13:27,583
corals will like because certain corals
392
00:13:27,583 --> 00:13:29,625
like certain zoo and deli. They'll be
393
00:13:29,625 --> 00:13:31,916
benefiting more of the coral depending on
394
00:13:31,916 --> 00:13:34,458
the type of zoo and deli. So if you have
395
00:13:34,458 --> 00:13:36,791
D that only like soft corals and the D
396
00:13:36,791 --> 00:13:39,375
zoo and deli are going to be more heat
397
00:13:39,375 --> 00:13:40,708
tolerant to a higher temperature,
398
00:13:40,750 --> 00:13:42,875
then we're going to start to see more of
399
00:13:42,875 --> 00:13:45,000
these soft corals that like the zoo and
400
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,291
deli that the type D zoo and deli around
401
00:13:47,291 --> 00:13:48,750
in the coral reefs. So we're going to see
402
00:13:48,750 --> 00:13:50,666
a change. But if the Staghorn like the
403
00:13:50,666 --> 00:13:52,833
branching or the plate corals like are
404
00:13:52,833 --> 00:13:54,583
there or the boulder corals like hard
405
00:13:54,583 --> 00:13:56,416
corals that are boulders. If they like
406
00:13:56,416 --> 00:13:58,750
the type A, which is the lowest range,
407
00:13:58,750 --> 00:14:01,166
then a higher temperature range is not
408
00:14:01,166 --> 00:14:02,833
going to be suitable for those types of
409
00:14:02,833 --> 00:14:04,458
corals. So essentially what's going to
410
00:14:04,458 --> 00:14:06,666
happen is we may not see the loss of
411
00:14:06,666 --> 00:14:09,083
corals completely, but we're definitely
412
00:14:09,083 --> 00:14:10,708
going to see a shift in the makeup.
413
00:14:10,750 --> 00:14:13,000
Of what the coral reefs will look like
414
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,708
and that may affect what type of fish,
415
00:14:15,958 --> 00:14:18,166
what type of invertebrates are on these
416
00:14:18,166 --> 00:14:20,333
types of reefs, what protection it gives
417
00:14:20,333 --> 00:14:22,041
because there's a real difference between
418
00:14:22,041 --> 00:14:24,208
a soft coral and a hard coral. When you
419
00:14:24,208 --> 00:14:26,416
think about hiding spots, a soft coral is
420
00:14:26,416 --> 00:14:27,833
a little bit more permeable to moving
421
00:14:27,833 --> 00:14:30,041
around a hard call it breaks. It's hard.
422
00:14:30,041 --> 00:14:31,041
If you try to get in there, if you're
423
00:14:31,041 --> 00:14:33,375
fish trying to get like a crab or shrimp,
424
00:14:33,833 --> 00:14:35,333
it's very difficult to get in there. If
425
00:14:35,333 --> 00:14:37,125
these corals are, you know, not
426
00:14:37,125 --> 00:14:38,791
protecting or if these corals are soft,
427
00:14:38,791 --> 00:14:40,166
it's easier to get in. I can move it
428
00:14:40,166 --> 00:14:40,708
around with my fish.
429
00:14:40,708 --> 00:14:41,458
I can move it around with my snout or I
430
00:14:41,458 --> 00:14:43,208
can, you know, move it around with my
431
00:14:43,208 --> 00:14:44,916
jaw, whatever you need to do. But if it's
432
00:14:44,916 --> 00:14:46,458
hard, it's really difficult for some of
433
00:14:46,458 --> 00:14:47,541
these fish to get in there without
434
00:14:47,541 --> 00:14:49,791
getting cut or out getting damaged. So
435
00:14:49,791 --> 00:14:52,000
having that shift could pose a lot of
436
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:53,875
problems and shift what we think coral
437
00:14:53,875 --> 00:14:56,125
reefs look like in the future. And that's
438
00:14:56,125 --> 00:14:58,333
where it becomes a problem. So if you
439
00:14:58,333 --> 00:15:00,666
think about it, we may not lose corals
440
00:15:00,666 --> 00:15:02,416
altogether, but we're going to lose the
441
00:15:02,416 --> 00:15:03,916
corals that we know and love and then
442
00:15:03,916 --> 00:15:06,416
provide the coral reef biodiversity as
443
00:15:06,416 --> 00:15:08,583
well as security for our coastal systems,
444
00:15:08,583 --> 00:15:09,875
which we need more and more
445
00:15:09,875 --> 00:15:10,708
and more as climate change.
446
00:15:10,708 --> 00:15:12,916
But change gets bigger. So what do we do?
447
00:15:13,250 --> 00:15:14,500
Andrew, you're telling me a lot of
448
00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:16,625
depressing stuff. What do we do? Look,
449
00:15:16,625 --> 00:15:17,750
we've gone through the problem. We're
450
00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:19,333
looking at the science, looking at the
451
00:15:19,333 --> 00:15:21,750
biology and the ecology. Now, what do we
452
00:15:21,750 --> 00:15:24,500
do? The biggest thing is we got to talk
453
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:26,416
to our government officials. We got to
454
00:15:26,416 --> 00:15:28,208
say we need to lower down greenhouse
455
00:15:28,208 --> 00:15:31,041
gases and we need to do better when we're
456
00:15:31,041 --> 00:15:32,416
looking at this stuff, right? Because
457
00:15:32,416 --> 00:15:34,541
coral reefs are affected because the
458
00:15:34,541 --> 00:15:35,916
heat's rising because the greenhouse
459
00:15:35,916 --> 00:15:38,708
gases are going up and it's because of a
460
00:15:38,708 --> 00:15:39,291
lot of developed
461
00:15:39,291 --> 00:15:40,708
countries or industrialized
462
00:15:40,708 --> 00:15:42,750
countries who are providing that type of
463
00:15:42,750 --> 00:15:44,583
pollution or it's providing that type of
464
00:15:44,583 --> 00:15:46,583
greenhouse gas that's affecting the
465
00:15:46,583 --> 00:15:48,583
global temperatures. We need to reduce
466
00:15:48,583 --> 00:15:50,541
those. That's not a quick turnaround.
467
00:15:50,541 --> 00:15:52,541
It's not a short term solution. We need
468
00:15:52,541 --> 00:15:54,333
to do that as a long term solution, but
469
00:15:54,333 --> 00:15:56,750
we got to stop voting in these people who
470
00:15:56,750 --> 00:15:58,708
are in these governments that love to go
471
00:15:58,708 --> 00:16:00,250
against the grain and start calling
472
00:16:00,250 --> 00:16:02,291
climate changes a hoax. They don't know
473
00:16:02,291 --> 00:16:03,791
anything about science. They're not
474
00:16:03,791 --> 00:16:06,000
educated in science and they're not
475
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,833
practical and they're not looking at
476
00:16:08,833 --> 00:16:10,541
renewable energies clean
477
00:16:10,541 --> 00:16:10,708
and clean and they're not
478
00:16:10,708 --> 00:16:11,500
going to be able to provide energy that
479
00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:14,750
will not provide CO2 or methane gases in
480
00:16:14,750 --> 00:16:17,958
the atmosphere. Everything else needs to
481
00:16:17,958 --> 00:16:19,833
change. We need to change the way we
482
00:16:19,833 --> 00:16:21,458
think we need to change the way we do
483
00:16:21,458 --> 00:16:22,833
life, which is not easy, but we're
484
00:16:22,833 --> 00:16:24,625
getting in trouble here, folks. We are in
485
00:16:24,625 --> 00:16:26,375
trouble. We're seeing wildfires. We're
486
00:16:26,375 --> 00:16:28,000
seeing droughts. We're seeing flooding.
487
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,083
We're seeing tsunamis. We're seeing
488
00:16:29,083 --> 00:16:32,083
earthquakes. Volcanoes are increasing and
489
00:16:32,083 --> 00:16:33,375
that could be linked to climate change,
490
00:16:33,375 --> 00:16:35,458
which I'll cover in the next episode. We
491
00:16:35,458 --> 00:16:37,291
are seeing some problems and it's not
492
00:16:37,291 --> 00:16:39,041
going to go away. So we need to do
493
00:16:39,041 --> 00:16:40,708
something about it. If you love coral reefs, we need to do something about it.
494
00:16:40,708 --> 00:16:41,583
We need to reach the way they are. If you
495
00:16:41,583 --> 00:16:44,666
are a diver, if you are a surfer, if you
496
00:16:44,666 --> 00:16:46,625
just love the ocean and you want to see
497
00:16:46,625 --> 00:16:48,916
more of these corals, we need to act by
498
00:16:48,916 --> 00:16:50,958
speaking to your government
499
00:16:50,958 --> 00:16:53,708
representatives as a community, as a
500
00:16:53,708 --> 00:16:56,500
region, as a country, as a world
501
00:16:56,500 --> 00:16:59,708
population. We cannot take these
502
00:16:59,708 --> 00:17:01,166
governments that are in that are not
503
00:17:01,166 --> 00:17:02,583
doing anything about climate change. In
504
00:17:02,583 --> 00:17:05,291
fact, going backwards and making it
505
00:17:05,291 --> 00:17:08,083
worse. That's what we have to do and it's
506
00:17:08,083 --> 00:17:10,250
on us to make sure our governments do it.
507
00:17:10,708 --> 00:17:12,125
We need to vote them in and if they're
508
00:17:12,125 --> 00:17:13,458
not listening to us when they're voted
509
00:17:13,458 --> 00:17:15,583
in, get them out the next time you vote.
510
00:17:16,166 --> 00:17:18,125
I know it's a long period of time, but
511
00:17:18,125 --> 00:17:20,500
you gotta get them out because we are in
512
00:17:20,500 --> 00:17:23,208
peril. This is not a joke. This is not
513
00:17:23,208 --> 00:17:26,208
exaggerating. These coral reefs, 80% of
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00:17:26,208 --> 00:17:28,375
them have died. Even the ones that are
515
00:17:28,375 --> 00:17:30,083
remote that we actually thought, hey, a
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00:17:30,083 --> 00:17:31,541
few years ago, the ones that are remote
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00:17:31,541 --> 00:17:33,666
actually do okay because there's less
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00:17:33,666 --> 00:17:35,333
cumulative effects. I remember covering
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00:17:35,333 --> 00:17:38,083
them on stories. Nope, not anymore. It's
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00:17:38,083 --> 00:17:39,500
too much now. Too much, too
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00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:40,708
high, too long, temporary.
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00:17:40,708 --> 00:17:44,000
The temperature is just too much. So
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that's what we have to do. That's the
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00:17:45,208 --> 00:17:47,625
call of action act. Speak to your
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00:17:47,625 --> 00:17:49,333
government representatives and that's the
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00:17:49,333 --> 00:17:50,333
episode for today. If you have any
527
00:17:50,333 --> 00:17:51,666
questions or comments, leave them in the
528
00:17:51,666 --> 00:17:52,666
comments below. If you're watching this
529
00:17:52,666 --> 00:17:54,416
on YouTube, if you're listening to this
530
00:17:54,416 --> 00:17:56,375
on audio podcast, which I love, because
531
00:17:56,375 --> 00:17:57,625
this is the way I started and I just
532
00:17:57,625 --> 00:18:00,291
continue to love it, please get ahold of
533
00:18:00,291 --> 00:18:02,125
me either, go to speakupforblue.com, hit
534
00:18:02,125 --> 00:18:04,166
the contact page, fill out the form that
535
00:18:04,166 --> 00:18:06,458
goes right to my personal email or you
536
00:18:06,458 --> 00:18:09,625
can go to Instagram. Hit me up on app,
537
00:18:09,625 --> 00:18:10,708
how to protect the ocean. That's it.
538
00:18:26,125 --> 00:18:32,416
That's it. I'm Andrew Lewis from the true
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00:18:32,416 --> 00:18:34,041
north strong and free. Have a great day.
540
00:18:34,291 --> 00:18:34,916
We'll talk to you next
541
00:18:34,916 --> 00:18:36,500
time and happy conservation.
00:00:00,583 --> 00:00:02,666
When somebody tells you that a coral reef
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has bleached, what
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goes through your mind?
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Do you think that it only happens over a
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couple of days, maybe
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one day, maybe a couple of
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00:00:09,375 --> 00:00:09,625
weeks?
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And then after that, the temperature goes
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down and the coral recovers, right?
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That's what you probably think.
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00:00:16,333 --> 00:00:17,625
Today we're going to be talking about
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coral bleaching events
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that happen over years.
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There's going to be four that we're going
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to be talking about.
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We're going to go into a little bit of
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detail in each one, but
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we're currently in one since
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2023 now to 2025.
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We have seen 80% of coral reefs globally
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00:00:31,875 --> 00:00:34,708
that have bleached in this span.
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It's not only in the Great Barrier Reef.
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It's not only in Indonesia
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or in the Southeast Pacific.
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It's also in the Caribbean.
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It's also in the Atlantic.
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It's also in the Indian Ocean.
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It's also everywhere.
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It's pretty much
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everywhere that we monitor reefs.
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And this is something that we have to
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talk about on today's episode of the how
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00:00:51,375 --> 00:00:52,291
to protect the ocean podcast.
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Let's start the show.
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00:00:57,833 --> 00:00:58,958
Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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00:00:58,958 --> 00:01:00,125
exciting episode of the how
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00:01:00,125 --> 00:01:00,958
to protect the ocean podcast.
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00:01:01,166 --> 00:01:02,583
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is
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00:01:02,583 --> 00:01:03,666
the podcast where you find out what's
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00:01:03,666 --> 00:01:04,458
happening with the ocean,
41
00:01:22,708 --> 00:01:22,916
and what's happening with the ocean.
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00:01:22,916 --> 00:01:24,458
And I'm going to show you the whole game of their series and be able to
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eliminate the other senators.
44
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But this is what
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00:01:26,458 --> 00:01:28,208
Canadians do when we do work.
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We kind of look down every once in a
47
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,666
while to check the score to make sure
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that the leaves are winning.
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00:01:32,500 --> 00:01:33,333
They're losing right now.
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A little nervous.
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That's okay.
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We're going to get back into the episode.
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Look, we're going to be talking about
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coral reef bleaching
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and not just over days.
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I think what a lot of people think and
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sort of I thought when I first heard of
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coral reef bleaching because coral reefs
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can recover after bleaching.
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And we're going to go into what bleaching
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is in just a second.
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But I want you to understand the urgency
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of the current bleaching crisis.
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So we need to look at troubling history
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of global bleaching events
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over the past few decades.
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There have been four major events.
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Each one have been more
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devastating than the last.
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So the first one was in 1998 driven by a
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powerful El Nino combined with rising
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global temperatures, climate change.
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It was the first time the world saw mass
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coral death on a global scale.
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So not just bleach, but
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actual death on a global scale.
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About 16% of the world's reef like across
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the world were affected with the parts of
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the Indian Ocean losing
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up to 90% of their coral.
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That is a huge amount.
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Then came 2010.
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So we had about 12 years in between
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another intense El Nino like pattern hit
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and it triggered a
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global bleaching again.
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Right.
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Once again, while it wasn't as deadly as
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1998, it served as a warning that these
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events were no longer rare.
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They were becoming more frequent.
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So you think about 1998,
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you have a major bleaching.
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I remember people like I remember
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politicians going, especially Ted Cruz
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going on like a talk show, like a
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celebrity talk show.
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I think it was Letterman
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or something like that.
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And they were talking
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about, you know, the quarries.
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They were talking about bleaching and
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they're talking about just temperature in
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general at that time.
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Climate denial was in full fledged like
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the Republicans and conservatives here in
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Canada were just denying everything.
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Kyoto Protocol was not
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even really a thing yet.
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But people were talking about that as
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like the Paris agreement of the 2000s.
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But, you know, it was starting to be
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talked about more and more because
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scientists kept observing these bleaching
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events and then also mass die
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offs and temperature rising.
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We started to see a pattern change more
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and more and we're warning people.
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I remember going, I was
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getting school at this point.
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I remember scientists and professors were
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saying, we are in trouble
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if we do not act in 1998.
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In 1998, we were going to be
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in trouble if we didn't act.
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Look, we are now 2025.
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We haven't acted as
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fast as what we needed to.
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But then, you know, you go 2010, you
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think you're done, you think you're OK,
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you think out of it
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denialism is still hot and ready.
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You know, people are just still denying.
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The oil and gas companies are strong in
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their PR and they
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just continue to do that.
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You get another bleach event.
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Not as bad, but you get
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another bleaching event.
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But all this talk about denial, people
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are like, yeah, well, you know what?
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You know, we saw a peak in 1980 and then
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it started to go down a bit.
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So it's starting to decrease.
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And you know what was happening is if you
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just looked at from 1998 to 2010, yeah,
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it didn't look like it was fluctuating
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and looked like it was going
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down because 1998 was so high.
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But when you looked at the entire graph,
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like for the last 100 or 200 years, you
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can definitely see from the industrial
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age, you started to see, whoo, it started
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to go up and then it started to kind of
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tail off a little bit, but still continue
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to rise, which we know today continues to
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rise, not as quickly, but it's still
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rising and rising and rising.
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And so we continue to get hotter and
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hotter years and break
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records every single year.
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We're in a bleaching event.
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But the third bleaching event happened
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between 2014 and 2017.
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This was the longest and most widespread
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bleaching event on record at the time.
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It struck hard across the Pacific, the
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Indian and the Atlantic oceans.
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The Great Barrier Reef in particular
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suffered catastrophic losses.
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Parts of it experienced back to back
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bleaching with little time to recover.
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So again, coral reefs can recover from
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bleaching, but if it's too long, you
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know, if it's one of those times where
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it's like the temperature stays long,
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like above 40 degrees Celsius for too
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long in a row in too many days in a row,
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we're talking about 40, 50 days, then
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bleaching will continue and the coral
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will eventually die because it can't get
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the products it needs from
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the algae that's in them.
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Right. We'll talk about
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that in just a second.
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So from 2014 to 2017 was the third event.
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That's three years. That's three years,
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right? And you're sitting there, you're
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like, hold on a second here. That was the
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longest. Now we're in the midst of a
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fourth global bleaching event.
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And from 2023 and we're now today 2025.
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So we don't know when this is ending.
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It's not ending. It hasn't ended yet.
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It's already the worst on record with
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more than 80 percent. 80 percent of coral
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reefs across 82 countries showing signs of a global bleaching event.
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And that's why we're talking about the kinds of bleaching. What's especially
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alarming is that even the most remote and
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previously resilient areas like Raja and
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00:06:07,625 --> 00:06:10,333
pot and the Gulf of a lot have been hit
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and are seeing death with their corals.
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Right. So this isn't just a climate
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story. This is a biodiversity story. This
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is a food security story. This is a human
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story. This is affecting people across 82
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countries, maybe even more.
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Each bleaching event chips away at
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ecosystems that could take centuries to
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build. And unless we change our course,
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the next one may even come
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sooner and hit harder for longer.
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This is devastating to so many people
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around the world that depend on reefs for
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00:06:42,416 --> 00:06:45,291
food and for security. Coral reefs are
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biodiversity hotspots that they contain
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00:06:47,541 --> 00:06:49,541
about a third of the species
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in the ocean that we know of.
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There's probably a lot more, but they
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00:06:52,708 --> 00:06:54,041
contain a third of the species that we
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know of. And so having coral reefs there
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are very important in particular coral
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00:06:58,541 --> 00:07:00,375
reefs. So like what we call the reef
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00:07:00,375 --> 00:07:02,875
building coral reefs, right? The corals.
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00:07:02,875 --> 00:07:05,000
So the Staghorn, the branching corals,
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the Montipora, which is the flat corals,
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sort of the plate corals as they call
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them, right? Those types of corals are
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reef building. They build out those
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reefs. They provide those hiding spots
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that brings in the biodiversity of
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invertebrates and
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vertebrates like fish and so forth.
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Inverbers like crab shrimp and that kind
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of stuff that brings in all the big fish.
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It brings in the sharks. It brings in
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everything. It's this home that is a huge
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biodiversity hotspot, but it also
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provides security for the coastline. Back
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in 2004 when we had the tsunami on
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Christmas day, right? Christmas and
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boxing day in the Indian Ocean.
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They're affected Africa, affected South
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Asia, and it affected a lot of the
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islands in the Southeast Pacific. These
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places were devastated in the places that
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actually survived the best and did the
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best from a coastal resilient point of
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view had coral reefs that were intact,
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had seagrass beds that were intact, had
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mangroves that were intact.
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Meaning that they were up and running and
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they were healthy. A lot of places that
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didn't have those coral systems or
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seagrass systems or mangrove systems had
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huge losses of not only people, but just
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land because the water
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just went right over it.
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There was nothing to stop it. The coastal
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security that coral reefs provide is
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dissipation of energy from waves. That
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means if a tsunami wave comes over, it's
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got all this energy. It's got all this
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momentum and it hits a coral reef.
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All that coral reef with this branching
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corals and all these different areas, it
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provides resistance to the wave. So the
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energy, the speed and the power
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dissipates as it goes over the reef and
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then it'll dissipate again as it go over
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seagrass habitat and it'll dissipate
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again as it goes over mangrove habitat,
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especially when it starts to come on
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land. These mangroves are thick.
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If you've never tried to trek through a
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mangrove area without those nice
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boardwalks that sometimes people put
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through, it's almost impossible. So when
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a wave hits those, then it really
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dissipates the energy and it breaks up
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the waves and it's not as hard hit that
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city or village or towns that are behind
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there are not hardest hit.
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So that's what happened in 2004. But now,
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like even as bleaching events started to
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happen and it continues to happen longer
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and longer periods and getting worse and
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worse. So in 2014 to 2017, 60% of the
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corals around the world died. Now it's
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80% not recovering guys. This is not
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recovering very well.
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And what's going to happen over time is
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we're going to see a change in the makeup
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of corals. So we're going to get less of
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these hard corals, like the staghorn
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corals, the branching
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corals and the plate corals.
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And we're going to start to see more soft
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corals that maybe are a little bit more
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heat resistant. So let's get into why
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that's important to know. So when you
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look at a coral reef, right, it has this
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hard body a lot of the times or soft
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body, depending if it's
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hard coral or soft coral.
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But it has this body has this like
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skeleton and a lot of times like the hard
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00:10:01,458 --> 00:10:03,750
corals are like a limestone skeleton. And
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00:10:03,750 --> 00:10:05,625
over that skeleton, you have this fleshy
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00:10:05,625 --> 00:10:07,541
material, which is the coral and that
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00:10:07,541 --> 00:10:11,625
coral gets its food from this little tiny
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microscopic organism called a zoo and LA.
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It's basically an algae cell and many,
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many algae cells within this body within
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this kind of coral skeleton, if you will.
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00:10:22,833 --> 00:10:26,083
And that algae gets its energy from the
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00:10:26,083 --> 00:10:27,875
sun from photosynthesis. That's how it
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feeds and the byproducts of that is like
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00:10:30,125 --> 00:10:32,333
calcium and other stuff. Right. And so
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00:10:32,333 --> 00:10:34,750
that calcium helps build the coral reefs.
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It helps build the skeleton of that
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course with the fleshiness can stand on
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top and the food, it gets like the
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byproducts, it gets and it actually
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00:10:41,583 --> 00:10:43,208
becomes a healthy coral. That's the
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00:10:43,208 --> 00:10:43,708
simplistic version of the coral.
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00:10:43,708 --> 00:10:45,000
And that's the simplistic version of how
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a coral eats and how it becomes so
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beautiful in the different colors and the
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00:10:48,666 --> 00:10:51,166
radiant colors. It's the algae inside
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that reflect those colors, right? That's
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00:10:53,250 --> 00:10:55,083
what we're seeing. Now, if the water gets
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00:10:55,083 --> 00:10:57,458
too hot, those algae are like, I don't
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00:10:57,458 --> 00:10:59,708
like it in here. I'm out of here. And
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they get expelled. Even the corals like,
336
00:11:01,333 --> 00:11:03,500
no, you got to go. It's getting too hot.
337
00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:04,916
I can't handle you in here. You got to
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00:11:04,916 --> 00:11:07,666
go. I got to start looking at my body and
339
00:11:07,666 --> 00:11:09,375
starting to just contain it whatever I
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00:11:09,375 --> 00:11:11,166
can. So it expels the zoo
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00:11:11,166 --> 00:11:12,708
and LA into the water column.
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00:11:12,750 --> 00:11:14,916
As long as the temperature stays that
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00:11:14,916 --> 00:11:16,750
temperature, the corals like, no, I got
344
00:11:16,750 --> 00:11:18,333
to get rid of everything. So it loses its
345
00:11:18,333 --> 00:11:20,291
color. Eventually loses like the
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00:11:20,291 --> 00:11:22,708
fleshiness of the coral around it. All
347
00:11:22,708 --> 00:11:24,333
the polyps, all those little polyps that
348
00:11:24,333 --> 00:11:26,833
feed and then the coral can't sustain
349
00:11:26,833 --> 00:11:29,666
itself. If the zoo, it like goes away for
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00:11:29,666 --> 00:11:32,750
too long, then it won't come back and the
351
00:11:32,750 --> 00:11:34,083
coral dies because it has no way of
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feeding. If the temperature goes down and
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00:11:36,958 --> 00:11:38,791
the zoo, I thought it comes back. These
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00:11:38,791 --> 00:11:40,708
little algae cells come back.
355
00:11:40,708 --> 00:11:43,041
Then it can recover a little bit
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00:11:43,041 --> 00:11:43,666
depending on how badly it's gone or how long it's been bleached. That's why you get the white bleaching is when the zoo and they are out, you lose the color is white. It's bleached. But when it comes back, it can be healthy again. Now we have to even go further down is looking at the different
types of zoo and delay. Now the research that I've done a while ago is there's pretty much four different types. You got ABC and D will keep it as simplistic as possible. Now, certain zoo and delay will react at certain temperatures. That's why coral reefs, they're very important to the
357
00:12:10,708 --> 00:12:12,333
sea. They're very sensitive to outside
358
00:12:12,333 --> 00:12:14,416
changes. They don't like changes. If
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you've ever had a marine or ocean like or
360
00:12:17,458 --> 00:12:19,500
saltwater tank and you've had corals in
361
00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:22,000
there, you realize how important it is to
362
00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,500
keep the water at certain measurements,
363
00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:25,916
temperature has to stay within a certain
364
00:12:25,916 --> 00:12:27,916
range. PH has to stay within a certain
365
00:12:27,916 --> 00:12:30,541
range. The light has to be there for it
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00:12:30,541 --> 00:12:33,875
and it can't be shaded by another rock or
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00:12:33,875 --> 00:12:35,291
another coral or even algae that grows on top. It's very specific. And any time those values go out, they can be
368
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outside of that range. The coral is not
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healthy. So if you get the temperature
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that comes in and heats it up, then the
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00:12:46,500 --> 00:12:48,541
zoo and I get expelled and that happens.
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So if it happens for over a long period
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of time, you're not going to get that zoo
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and deli back and you're going to get
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00:12:54,375 --> 00:12:56,666
death to the coral going back to the
376
00:12:56,666 --> 00:12:58,750
different types of zoo and deli. They
377
00:12:58,750 --> 00:13:00,791
have different heat signatures. So
378
00:13:00,791 --> 00:13:02,875
different ranges of tolerance for heat.
379
00:13:03,375 --> 00:13:04,875
So if you think about it, and I don't
380
00:13:04,875 --> 00:13:06,041
know for sure. But if you think about a
381
00:13:06,041 --> 00:13:08,250
as the lowest range, so it's very
382
00:13:08,250 --> 00:13:10,625
specific. So if anything goes above or
383
00:13:10,708 --> 00:13:13,500
outside of that range by going higher or
384
00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:14,875
even lower, but in this case, it's going
385
00:13:14,875 --> 00:13:16,458
higher than those who went there, they
386
00:13:16,458 --> 00:13:18,583
were like, I'm out. We're gone. B is a
387
00:13:18,583 --> 00:13:19,958
little higher tolerance. C is a little
388
00:13:19,958 --> 00:13:21,375
higher tolerance and D is a little higher
389
00:13:21,375 --> 00:13:23,541
tolerance, right? And D is what people
390
00:13:23,541 --> 00:13:25,541
are looking at and really looking at what
391
00:13:25,541 --> 00:13:27,583
corals will like because certain corals
392
00:13:27,583 --> 00:13:29,625
like certain zoo and deli. They'll be
393
00:13:29,625 --> 00:13:31,916
benefiting more of the coral depending on
394
00:13:31,916 --> 00:13:34,458
the type of zoo and deli. So if you have
395
00:13:34,458 --> 00:13:36,791
D that only like soft corals and the D
396
00:13:36,791 --> 00:13:39,375
zoo and deli are going to be more heat
397
00:13:39,375 --> 00:13:40,708
tolerant to a higher temperature,
398
00:13:40,750 --> 00:13:42,875
then we're going to start to see more of
399
00:13:42,875 --> 00:13:45,000
these soft corals that like the zoo and
400
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,291
deli that the type D zoo and deli around
401
00:13:47,291 --> 00:13:48,750
in the coral reefs. So we're going to see
402
00:13:48,750 --> 00:13:50,666
a change. But if the Staghorn like the
403
00:13:50,666 --> 00:13:52,833
branching or the plate corals like are
404
00:13:52,833 --> 00:13:54,583
there or the boulder corals like hard
405
00:13:54,583 --> 00:13:56,416
corals that are boulders. If they like
406
00:13:56,416 --> 00:13:58,750
the type A, which is the lowest range,
407
00:13:58,750 --> 00:14:01,166
then a higher temperature range is not
408
00:14:01,166 --> 00:14:02,833
going to be suitable for those types of
409
00:14:02,833 --> 00:14:04,458
corals. So essentially what's going to
410
00:14:04,458 --> 00:14:06,666
happen is we may not see the loss of
411
00:14:06,666 --> 00:14:09,083
corals completely, but we're definitely
412
00:14:09,083 --> 00:14:10,708
going to see a shift in the makeup.
413
00:14:10,750 --> 00:14:13,000
Of what the coral reefs will look like
414
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,708
and that may affect what type of fish,
415
00:14:15,958 --> 00:14:18,166
what type of invertebrates are on these
416
00:14:18,166 --> 00:14:20,333
types of reefs, what protection it gives
417
00:14:20,333 --> 00:14:22,041
because there's a real difference between
418
00:14:22,041 --> 00:14:24,208
a soft coral and a hard coral. When you
419
00:14:24,208 --> 00:14:26,416
think about hiding spots, a soft coral is
420
00:14:26,416 --> 00:14:27,833
a little bit more permeable to moving
421
00:14:27,833 --> 00:14:30,041
around a hard call it breaks. It's hard.
422
00:14:30,041 --> 00:14:31,041
If you try to get in there, if you're
423
00:14:31,041 --> 00:14:33,375
fish trying to get like a crab or shrimp,
424
00:14:33,833 --> 00:14:35,333
it's very difficult to get in there. If
425
00:14:35,333 --> 00:14:37,125
these corals are, you know, not
426
00:14:37,125 --> 00:14:38,791
protecting or if these corals are soft,
427
00:14:38,791 --> 00:14:40,166
it's easier to get in. I can move it
428
00:14:40,166 --> 00:14:40,708
around with my fish.
429
00:14:40,708 --> 00:14:41,458
I can move it around with my snout or I
430
00:14:41,458 --> 00:14:43,208
can, you know, move it around with my
431
00:14:43,208 --> 00:14:44,916
jaw, whatever you need to do. But if it's
432
00:14:44,916 --> 00:14:46,458
hard, it's really difficult for some of
433
00:14:46,458 --> 00:14:47,541
these fish to get in there without
434
00:14:47,541 --> 00:14:49,791
getting cut or out getting damaged. So
435
00:14:49,791 --> 00:14:52,000
having that shift could pose a lot of
436
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:53,875
problems and shift what we think coral
437
00:14:53,875 --> 00:14:56,125
reefs look like in the future. And that's
438
00:14:56,125 --> 00:14:58,333
where it becomes a problem. So if you
439
00:14:58,333 --> 00:15:00,666
think about it, we may not lose corals
440
00:15:00,666 --> 00:15:02,416
altogether, but we're going to lose the
441
00:15:02,416 --> 00:15:03,916
corals that we know and love and then
442
00:15:03,916 --> 00:15:06,416
provide the coral reef biodiversity as
443
00:15:06,416 --> 00:15:08,583
well as security for our coastal systems,
444
00:15:08,583 --> 00:15:09,875
which we need more and more
445
00:15:09,875 --> 00:15:10,708
and more as climate change.
446
00:15:10,708 --> 00:15:12,916
But change gets bigger. So what do we do?
447
00:15:13,250 --> 00:15:14,500
Andrew, you're telling me a lot of
448
00:15:14,500 --> 00:15:16,625
depressing stuff. What do we do? Look,
449
00:15:16,625 --> 00:15:17,750
we've gone through the problem. We're
450
00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:19,333
looking at the science, looking at the
451
00:15:19,333 --> 00:15:21,750
biology and the ecology. Now, what do we
452
00:15:21,750 --> 00:15:24,500
do? The biggest thing is we got to talk
453
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:26,416
to our government officials. We got to
454
00:15:26,416 --> 00:15:28,208
say we need to lower down greenhouse
455
00:15:28,208 --> 00:15:31,041
gases and we need to do better when we're
456
00:15:31,041 --> 00:15:32,416
looking at this stuff, right? Because
457
00:15:32,416 --> 00:15:34,541
coral reefs are affected because the
458
00:15:34,541 --> 00:15:35,916
heat's rising because the greenhouse
459
00:15:35,916 --> 00:15:38,708
gases are going up and it's because of a
460
00:15:38,708 --> 00:15:39,291
lot of developed
461
00:15:39,291 --> 00:15:40,708
countries or industrialized
462
00:15:40,708 --> 00:15:42,750
countries who are providing that type of
463
00:15:42,750 --> 00:15:44,583
pollution or it's providing that type of
464
00:15:44,583 --> 00:15:46,583
greenhouse gas that's affecting the
465
00:15:46,583 --> 00:15:48,583
global temperatures. We need to reduce
466
00:15:48,583 --> 00:15:50,541
those. That's not a quick turnaround.
467
00:15:50,541 --> 00:15:52,541
It's not a short term solution. We need
468
00:15:52,541 --> 00:15:54,333
to do that as a long term solution, but
469
00:15:54,333 --> 00:15:56,750
we got to stop voting in these people who
470
00:15:56,750 --> 00:15:58,708
are in these governments that love to go
471
00:15:58,708 --> 00:16:00,250
against the grain and start calling
472
00:16:00,250 --> 00:16:02,291
climate changes a hoax. They don't know
473
00:16:02,291 --> 00:16:03,791
anything about science. They're not
474
00:16:03,791 --> 00:16:06,000
educated in science and they're not
475
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,833
practical and they're not looking at
476
00:16:08,833 --> 00:16:10,541
renewable energies clean
477
00:16:10,541 --> 00:16:10,708
and clean and they're not
478
00:16:10,708 --> 00:16:11,500
going to be able to provide energy that
479
00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:14,750
will not provide CO2 or methane gases in
480
00:16:14,750 --> 00:16:17,958
the atmosphere. Everything else needs to
481
00:16:17,958 --> 00:16:19,833
change. We need to change the way we
482
00:16:19,833 --> 00:16:21,458
think we need to change the way we do
483
00:16:21,458 --> 00:16:22,833
life, which is not easy, but we're
484
00:16:22,833 --> 00:16:24,625
getting in trouble here, folks. We are in
485
00:16:24,625 --> 00:16:26,375
trouble. We're seeing wildfires. We're
486
00:16:26,375 --> 00:16:28,000
seeing droughts. We're seeing flooding.
487
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,083
We're seeing tsunamis. We're seeing
488
00:16:29,083 --> 00:16:32,083
earthquakes. Volcanoes are increasing and
489
00:16:32,083 --> 00:16:33,375
that could be linked to climate change,
490
00:16:33,375 --> 00:16:35,458
which I'll cover in the next episode. We
491
00:16:35,458 --> 00:16:37,291
are seeing some problems and it's not
492
00:16:37,291 --> 00:16:39,041
going to go away. So we need to do
493
00:16:39,041 --> 00:16:40,708
something about it. If you love coral reefs, we need to do something about it.
494
00:16:40,708 --> 00:16:41,583
We need to reach the way they are. If you
495
00:16:41,583 --> 00:16:44,666
are a diver, if you are a surfer, if you
496
00:16:44,666 --> 00:16:46,625
just love the ocean and you want to see
497
00:16:46,625 --> 00:16:48,916
more of these corals, we need to act by
498
00:16:48,916 --> 00:16:50,958
speaking to your government
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00:16:50,958 --> 00:16:53,708
representatives as a community, as a
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00:16:53,708 --> 00:16:56,500
region, as a country, as a world
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00:16:56,500 --> 00:16:59,708
population. We cannot take these
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00:16:59,708 --> 00:17:01,166
governments that are in that are not
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00:17:01,166 --> 00:17:02,583
doing anything about climate change. In
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00:17:02,583 --> 00:17:05,291
fact, going backwards and making it
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00:17:05,291 --> 00:17:08,083
worse. That's what we have to do and it's
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00:17:08,083 --> 00:17:10,250
on us to make sure our governments do it.
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00:17:10,708 --> 00:17:12,125
We need to vote them in and if they're
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00:17:12,125 --> 00:17:13,458
not listening to us when they're voted
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00:17:13,458 --> 00:17:15,583
in, get them out the next time you vote.
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00:17:16,166 --> 00:17:18,125
I know it's a long period of time, but
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00:17:18,125 --> 00:17:20,500
you gotta get them out because we are in
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00:17:20,500 --> 00:17:23,208
peril. This is not a joke. This is not
513
00:17:23,208 --> 00:17:26,208
exaggerating. These coral reefs, 80% of
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00:17:26,208 --> 00:17:28,375
them have died. Even the ones that are
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00:17:28,375 --> 00:17:30,083
remote that we actually thought, hey, a
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00:17:30,083 --> 00:17:31,541
few years ago, the ones that are remote
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00:17:31,541 --> 00:17:33,666
actually do okay because there's less
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00:17:33,666 --> 00:17:35,333
cumulative effects. I remember covering
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00:17:35,333 --> 00:17:38,083
them on stories. Nope, not anymore. It's
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00:17:38,083 --> 00:17:39,500
too much now. Too much, too
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00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:40,708
high, too long, temporary.
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00:17:40,708 --> 00:17:44,000
The temperature is just too much. So
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00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,208
that's what we have to do. That's the
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00:17:45,208 --> 00:17:47,625
call of action act. Speak to your
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00:17:47,625 --> 00:17:49,333
government representatives and that's the
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00:17:49,333 --> 00:17:50,333
episode for today. If you have any
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00:17:50,333 --> 00:17:51,666
questions or comments, leave them in the
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00:17:51,666 --> 00:17:52,666
comments below. If you're watching this
529
00:17:52,666 --> 00:17:54,416
on YouTube, if you're listening to this
530
00:17:54,416 --> 00:17:56,375
on audio podcast, which I love, because
531
00:17:56,375 --> 00:17:57,625
this is the way I started and I just
532
00:17:57,625 --> 00:18:00,291
continue to love it, please get ahold of
533
00:18:00,291 --> 00:18:02,125
me either, go to speakupforblue.com, hit
534
00:18:02,125 --> 00:18:04,166
the contact page, fill out the form that
535
00:18:04,166 --> 00:18:06,458
goes right to my personal email or you
536
00:18:06,458 --> 00:18:09,625
can go to Instagram. Hit me up on app,
537
00:18:09,625 --> 00:18:10,708
how to protect the ocean. That's it.
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00:18:26,125 --> 00:18:32,416
That's it. I'm Andrew Lewis from the true
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00:18:32,416 --> 00:18:34,041
north strong and free. Have a great day.
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00:18:34,291 --> 00:18:34,916
We'll talk to you next
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00:18:34,916 --> 00:18:36,500
time and happy conservation.
