Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Solutions for Coral Reef Bleaching


Unfortunately, since the vast majority of the factors that cause coral bleaching are environmental, there is very little humans can do to physically stop or reverse the process directly. The solution lies in raising awareness about this phenomenon and taking measures so as to prevent zooxanthellae loss in the future.
            One possible solution is to create an advertising campaign to raise awareness about coral bleaching and try to convince people to do what they can to prevent further climate change. This would require a team of scientists to consult and a team of advertisers to reach the public through an either written or televised campaign. This would most likely have to be sponsored through a large non-profit organization in order to accomplish. The sad truth is that most people are either completely unaware about the phenomenon of coral bleaching or are sorely uneducated about the facts, such as that this process can actually be reversed if conditions return back to as they were before, and that common commercial products such as sunscreen contribute to the problem.
            Another possible solution is to go through the legal route and actually present legislation to be put into power to protect coral reefs and its zooxanthellae. This would possibly have to be presented with other anti-climate change bills, especially those limiting the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and carbon emissions, which largely contribute to the acidification of the ocean. Marine protected areas could be made in the areas where coral is most affected, so as to prevent direct anthropogenic activity that continues the process of coral bleaching.

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