While the Earth continues its steady track around the sun, our biosphere’s survival is on a time crunch. From rainforests to coral reefs, ecosystems are in a constant battle for survival against anthropogenic change. In order to halt this impending destruction, humanity needs to become more aware and educated about the effects of their actions. Providing helpful and accurate information to the general public falls onto the shoulders of scientists, but often the key point become lost in complicated figures and complex vocabulary. Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, in the “Dropping Acid” chapter, shows how a narrative filled with personal moments and humor efficiently portrays an important message.
The premise of Kolbert’s chapter is to stress the significance of coral reefs not only to oceanic ecosystems but to humanity as well. Instead of listing the facts and history of coral reefs, she instead takes the audience her through her own journey to One Tree Island. Including the audience in her discoveries allows for them to more empathetic about the issue at hand, in this case ocean acidification and its effects on coral reefs. Creating images of the diversity of an underwater community evokes awe and curiosity for at what is beneath the waves, and Kolbert emphasizes this: “Schools of small fish were followed by schools of larger fish, which were followed by sharks. Huge rays glided by, trailed by turtles the size of bathtubs. […] it was like trying to catalog a dream” (pp 139). Corals are a keystone species for the marine world by providing housing, protection, and food to the creatures that reside within the depths. Human interference via carbon emission directly correlates to ocean acidification, which devastates the corals.
Accompanying the acidification would be the rise of ocean temperatures, which also damages the corals and their counterparts. As Kolbert explains the zooxanthellae co-exist with the coral polyps in a mutualistic relationship, but that is threatened by increasing temperatures. The higher temperatures causes the zooxanthellae to react in a harmful way and the coral polyps kick them out and then the coral starts to turn white (coral bleaching). If left like that the corals will cease to grow and die as a result. The once colorful reefs swimming with life then become a barren wasteland, as Kolbert so delicately describes through her narrative. All due to human kind.
Even though I already understand the severity of the issue as a marine science student, I found Kolbert’s point about “recycling” to be rather interesting. Before reading this excerpt, I had never wondered how such low nutrient areas like the tropics were the parts of the ocean that flourished the most. Kolbert explains how nutrients are passed along from organism to organism, and that corals take the number one spot. Particularly in this passage, I enjoyed how she included humor: “One of the Israeli scientists, Jack Silverman, put it to me this way: ‘If you don’t have a building, where are the tenants going to go?’” (pp 140). By utilizing humor, she was able to take a somewhat complex and vital point about how corals are a keystone species and make it easily relatable to those who might not have any understanding of the ocean. The humor also serves to lighten the severity of ocean acidification without taking away from her point in my opinion.
Thankfully, there are people like Kolbert trying to bring attention to the coral reefs. The Reef Restoration Foundation works to regenerate damaged coral reefs via nurseries and I think this could be a vital step forward. As well, similar to Kolbert they post online and create videos to share a narrative of the ocean with those who don’t know much about it. Stories like these could be the call to our generation for action.
Zoe's Exploration 