Shayle Matsuda

So there was that article that came out, I think, a couple of years ago now that declared the Great Barrier Reef dead.

It's not dead.

That's the answer.

However, it's not doing so great.

And that's why articles like that

can be challenging to the overall conversation.

Because we don't want everyone to say, oh, good, it's not dead, and move on.

But the Great Barrier Reef, it just experienced two horrific leaching events back to back.

And a new paper by Terry Hughes's group out in Australia showed that the recruitment of baby corals to the reef post those events has significantly declined.

And so that's one of those, not only are we dealing with the impacts of,

dying coral on the reef who's going to replace them right and and so these like that these are these kind of the smaller impacts that we're looking at so the great barrier reef you know it did experience this massive bleaching event lost like you know in some regions lost like you know 50 or more of the coral on the ground and they're you know they're trying to come back different sections of the reef are still healthy you can still go out and see corals in the great barrier reef but if it keeps getting hit by

these events, there's not going to be enough time for things to recover, just to go back to what they were.

Educating yourself on the politicians and on the laws and bills that are coming up that would directly impact the reefs here and where we are, that's where we have the most sway, is a really important thing.

Going to town halls also, not just voting, but actually showing up and becoming parts of the conversations that are directly influencing...

the legislators in your own area can be a really good way to start.

And then also, if you're going to a place like the Great Barrier Reef, essentially voting with your dollar, doing your due diligence to look up operators that are eco-friendly, that some of the funding from that might actually go to research or refresh duration, but looking for making sure that your footprint in those spaces are supporting organizations that are doing it right.

Yeah, definitely.

And that's the thing.

Some corals, their structures are big.

Ask any surfer.