The Largest Living Thing on Earth in Mortal Peril

It's so big it's plainly visible from space. At 2,300 miles in length it's the largest living thing on the planet.

It could be about to die off.

The Australian people have been told they'll have to choose - coral or coal. I suppose it comes down to one letter, "r."

The Great Barrier Reef will not survive a massive coral die-off if ocean temperatures continue to warm.


The Great Barrier Reef will not survive coral bleaching if current sea temperature trends continue, according to a new report charting increases over the past three decades which blames manmade climate change for the problem.

“The likelihood of the reef being able to survive through that is extremely low,” the report’s co-author, Scott Heron of the NOAA, told Guardian Australia. “If annual severe bleaching was happening across 98% of global reefs, it is very unlikely the Great Barrier Reef would be maintained.”