It’s not Chicago, or Hong Kong, or even Tokyo; surprisingly, the largest structure made by any living organism, humans included, is the Great Barrier Reef. Almost every part of the reef is alive -- from the rainbow array of coral, to the sharks cruising lazily through the current, to the clown fish trying to get their son Nemo back home. Over 11,000 species have come to call this intricate underwater masterpiece and the islands surrounding it home. And that’s just species. We couldn’t even begin to count the individual amount of living organisms that live within the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef, but it would be somewhere in the millions. It’s one of the most well recognized, treasured, and beautiful places on earth. Spanning over 1,600 miles, it’s even visible from space.
And right now it’s under attack.
A coal conglomerate, Adani, has proposed to develop the Carmichael Coal Mine in Queensland, Australia. In addition to the climate impacts, the railway and port infrastructure would be devastating to the Great Barrier Reef, ripping up 3 million tonnes of seabed.
If the Carmichael Coal Mine is to be built, we would lose some of the most exoctic, diverse, and truly incredible ecosystems and organisms on the entire planet, and with it the $6 billion tourism industry that many Queenslanders depend on. No one wants to go scuba diving to see where the Reef used to flourish. The tradeoff is horribly skewed.
Worse still, Adani has asked for the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) to help with the project, meaning that if it were approved, the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef could be financed by U.S. taxpayer dollars. And while Ex-Im considers supporting Carmichael, private banks like Citigroup, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and others have publicly stated they will not back the project, recognizing that this plan is not only destructive to the environment, but doesn’t even make any financial sense.
But we are not sitting idly by and waiting for a decision from Ex-Im. Community members, celebrities, and environmental activists are voicing their opposition to the Carmichael Coal Mine through the #SaveTheReef Campaign. Celebrities, like Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson have joined with the Sierra Club and other organizations in advocacy for the protection of our oceans. Coalitions from around the world have written letters stating the environmental and economic repercussions of such a project.
Together, we refuse to be ignored. Through the #SaveTheReef Campaign, we hope to not only bring attention to the beauty of this place, but also the dire consequences that could lead to its destruction. Our goal is to gather 40,000 petitions -- 40,000 voices clamoring as one to save unique and wholly irreplaceable natural wonder that is the Great Barrier Reef.