Why Climate Change is Wreaking Havoc on The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is suffering from what is the most devastating bleaching event in its entire fossil history, with 93% of its reefs experiencing at least some degree of bleaching. Many of these reefs will be killed permanently, and similar damage is occurring to countless other coral reef systems around the world. And the culprit? Human caused climate change. We called up professor Justin Marshall, a coral reef expert who has studied these ecosystems for over three decades, to learn about the damage being done, why it matters, and why our only hope for saving these systems is to decrease our greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.