Travel to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with Joshua Jackson, and witness the beauty of a fragile reef ecosystem that could be lost if people continue to release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere at current levels.
In a conversation with a University of Queensland marine biologist, Jackson learns how science has only recently connected climate change with ocean acidification. The ocean absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and the CO2 reacts with seawater, increasing the ocean’s acidity. Higher acidity is harmful to coral and other marine life. Though humans have assumed that our vast ocean is an inexhaustible resource, it appears the ocean’s resilience is reaching its limit.
In this clip from Years of Living Dangerously, actor Joshua Jackson scuba dives along the Great Barrier Reef, an ecosystem at risk due to climate change.
Find more of this story in the “Collapse of the Oceans” episode of the National Geographic Channel’s Years of Living Dangerously series.
National Geographic. Resource.
Resource type: film
Resource format: video
