By Mary O’KEEFE

Have you heard of coral bleaching? I had heard of it and have seen photos but I never realized how far reaching this was and how it affects the ocean as a whole.

Over one quarter of all marine life relies on coral reefs at some point in their life cycle. Corals are the building blocks of reef ecosystems and vital to life on Earth, according to marineconservation.org.

Coral bleaching is when the reef’s waters stay hot for too long and the coral becomes stressed and expels the marine algae living inside its tissues, called zooxanthellae, stated marineconservation.org.

So basically when this happens the coral, which is a living thing, spits out the algae, which leaves a white skeleton behind. In addition, some coral feeds itself; however, without zooxanthellae it would starve.

Scientists tell us that once we hit an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, coral reefs will struggle to survive. If during this decade we don’t keep below 1.5C in global warming, the harsh reality is we will see more mass bleaching events and the rapid decline of our global icon. In just seven years, our reef has suffered four severe mass coral bleaching events – these happened faster and were more severe than scientists predicted. If we don’t act to halt pollution we risk the future of our precious reef, according to NOAA.

In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in one year in the Caribbean due to a massive bleaching event. The warm waters expanded southward that centered on the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Comparison of satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the previous 20 years combined, according to NOAA.

Not all bleaching is due to warm water. In January 2010, cold water in the Florida Keys caused a coral bleach that resulted in the death of some coral. Water dropped 6.7 degrees Celsius, which was lower than the typical temperatures. Now researchers are looking into the affect of this bleaching due to extreme temperature drop, according to NOAA.

So why does this matter? Why should we care if the extreme temperatures kill off the coral? Well, again we look to “Star Trek” and specifically “Star Trek VI – The Voyage Home.” If you remember, and I am certain you have all seen this amazing film, the world was being destroyed because a ship of aliens was attempting to get a response from its comrades, the humpback whale. The film, as only “Star Trek” can do, highlighted the human arrogance that one species is more important another. In this case the humpbacks had long died off due to human activity. And just as the Earth was about to receive its poetic justice, Capt. Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise traveled back to the past to grab two humpback whales and plop them into the ocean so they could tell their fellow whales all is well and to move on. The Earth was saved.

The problem is that, as much as I hate to admit it, “Star Trek” is a fictional world. We don’t have anyone who can travel to the past to correct our arrogance and ignorance. We have to do something now.

Coral matters because … well … first of all, it is a living thing so it should matter simply because of that; however, thousands of marine animals, including sea turtles, crabs, shrimp, sea birds and jellyfish, to name a few, depend on the coral reefs. The reefs provide shelter, spawning grounds and protection from predators. They support organisms at the base of the ocean food chains.

“Coral bleaching impacts peoples’ livelihoods, food security and safety. Coral reefs are natural barriers that absorb the force of waves and storm surges, keeping coastal communities safe. Without them, we must rely on manmade seawalls that are expensive, less effective and environmentally damaging to construct. Bleached coral also compounds the overfishing crisis by removing links in the food web and depriving some fish and crustacean species of a place to spawn and develop. Anyone relying on these animals as a primary source of income or protein will be in trouble. Finally, reef tourism brings in billions of dollars each year and supports thousands of jobs. Bleached coral reefs, devoid of magnificent marine species, jeopardize it all,” according to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF).

Although it does take a very long time to turn the process of coral bleaching around it can actually be done. Humans can start by reducing runoff of storm water and fertilizer and avoiding herbicides and pesticides. And of course we have to address climate change. We can no longer pretend it is not affecting our world … no matter how many states decide to remove it from their dialogue.

There will be a slight cooling trend today with highs in the mid 80s then a slight warm up over the weekend with highs in the upper 80s … but nothing like what was experienced last weekend.

There is an Air Quality Alert in affect through Tuesday at 7 p.m. This is partially due to surrounding fires but mostly because of the high pressure that we are experiencing. This high pressure traps smog and smoke, according to NOAA.