Coral bleaching is the loss of zooxanthellae that is inside the coral skeleton making it turn white. Coral bleaching is caused by the increase in water temperatures, pollution, ocean acidification, and many more. When these events much as pollution happens in our atmosphere our ocean absorbs 25% of the CO2 in the atmosphere causing our ocean to warm up. When the ocean warms up the coral reefs start to lose their color causing them to turn white. According to the “Reef Resilience Network” they state that “The loss of zooxanthellae makes the white calcium carbonate coral skeleton visible through the transparent tissue, making the coral appear bright white or ‘bleached’.” (2021) This means that when the coral is exposed to pollution or acidification the corals skeleton loses it zooxanthellae making it bleached.

Coral Bleaching is an issue that shouldn’t be ignored or disregarded. According to “Big Island Video News” they say that “On Hawai’i Island, the majority of the sites surveyed by the DAR teams showed some level of bleaching. The areas most affected by the bleaching were along the Kona coast, with an average of 40% live coral bleached in many survey locations. Several locations there were heavily bleached in the 2015 event which resulted in high mortality” This means that 40% of the coral reefs on the Kona coast in Hawaii are bleached because of pollution. But this isn’t the only area that's heavily polluted in Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, and even Kauai’s coral reefs have severe bleaching. According to Olivia Rosane “Because of ocean acidification and coral bleaching caused by the climate crisis, as well as problems like runoff from coastal development, 75 percent of the world's coral reefs could face critical threats by 2050.” This demonstrates that it is extremely important to fix and take action to stop the spread of coral bleaching along with the causes. If we don’t take immediate action then by 2050 our coral reefs will be showing us what we have done to them.


Solution: Ban the use of Chemicals and liquids on the beach

Pros:

-Coral reefs won't bleach once Chemicals aren’t allowed in the ocean.
-Ocean acidification slows down due to the banning of Chemicals and liquids.
-The Ocean will be clean and beautiful with no harmful liquids in the ocean.

Cons:

-Can’t have picnics on the beach.
-Won’t be able to take everyday drinks and food on the beach.
-Not able to play with anything with the use of a battery or motor.