Rendering №12

The article published on the website of the newspaper “The Los Angeles Times” on November 30, 2012 is headlined “U.S. seeks to protect 66 kinds of coral”. The article reports at length that the federal government on Friday proposed protecting 66 kinds of corals under the Endangered Species Act, an acknowledgment that these reef-building animals are suffering so many insults they are threatened with extinction. Speaking of this situation it is necessary to note that the proposal, which covers corals in the Pacific and the Caribbean, lists 19 ways that corals are under assault. The government was prodded into action by the Center for Biological Diversity.

It’s an open secret that the world's oceans contain more than 700 species of stony corals, small animals that live in colonies and form elaborate and colorful structures with exoskeletons that resemble everything from the folds of a human brain to the horns of elk or deer. So, it is necessary to point out that a third of these reef-building corals are listed as threatened with extinction by the World Conservation Union, an international consortium of scientists. The Center for Biological Diversity used this international list to push for U.S. protection of those in American waters.

Analyzing this situation it is necessary to emphasize that the fisheries service also proposed to reclassify staghorn and elkhorn corals from "threatened" to the more severe category of "endangered. About 98% of staghorn and 90% to 95% of elkhorn coral have disappeared since 1980. In resolute terms the author of the article makes it clear that these corals have become overgrown by seaweed when too many algae-eating fish are removed from the reefs. They have suffered from disease and suffocation when bathed in nutrient-rich sewage and farm runoff, particularly in South Florida.

Giving appraisal of the situation it’s necessary to point out that corals have been hit by periodic "bleaching" events, which is a sort of heatstroke, when waters get too hot. It's a result of rising global temperatures because of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — mostly from burning fossil fuels. Besides, there is every reason to believe that the oceans have absorbed about a quarter of the C02 accumulated since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, setting off a chemical reaction that makes seawater increasingly acidic. So, there are signs that this situation poses another long-term threat to corals, which rely on alkaline seawater to provide them building materials to form their exoskeletons.

The article draws a conclusion that Federal scientists cited ocean acidification as one of the most serious threats to corals surviving to the end of the century. It was revealed that the worst threats, according to federal rankings, were hot water causing bleaching and the spread of disease. Farther down the list were more localized problems from overfishing, nutrient pollution, the discharge of sediments and toxic chemicals from the land, and destructive fishing practices.

As for me, I think that nowadays we should care not only about money and ourselves but also about our nature and the environment. We need to protect our world and it’s up to us to defend nature, and ensure its continuing existence and future recovery. Humans can’t survive alone on this planet. We depend on every living thing for the lives we so selfishly lead, and it is our duty to protect it since we've decided it's our right to do whatever we want. The only thing I can say is SAVE THE CORALS. SAVE THE ANIMALS. SAVE THE OCEANS. SAVE YOUR EARTH, YOUR HOME. We are nothing on our own.