Great Barrier Reef Persuasive Speech

683 Words3 Pages

The Great Barrier Reef must be saved now and protected at all costs.
Introduction
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth and don’t you think we should be doing more to protect it? Over the past three decades, the Great Barrier Reef has lost masses of money and tourism affecting jobs and the economy, pollution is polluting the waters, and global warming has produced horrific coral bleaching. These issues aren’t going away by themselves. The Reef needs saving and I’m going to tell you exactly why and how we can help.

Global warming causing coral bleaching
Firstly, the Great Barrier Reefs issue with coral bleaching is escalating beyond what we thought was possible. Global warming is the increasing temperatures due to greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide that is released from cars into the atmosphere. The gases then effects temperature of the water; heating it up, the warm water then “bleaches” the coral, meaning the coral dies from the heat. During 2016 and 2017 the Great Barrier Reef suffered back-to-back bleaching events. In 2016 almost …show more content…

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most popular, must-see attractions in Australia. Currently, the Reef is worth 64 billion dollars and tourism is the biggest contributor to the total asset value making up 29 billion dollars. But with tourist numbers down 50 percent the reefs economy is in great danger. CEO of the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, Col McKenzie states that the Great Barrier Reef is crucial to our industry and that ‘We don't have an industry without the Great Barrier Reef being in good condition.’ The effect of tourism dropping isn’t just affecting the economy and value of the reef it is affecting people employed at the reef. With the drop in tourists, employees at the reef are losing jobs as they aren’t needed. The Reef is an extremely vital part of our economy and industry and without it, we will