A first of its kind global assessment has found one third of reef-building corals face extinction because of climate change [ark | more\ark]. Climate change brings rising water temperatures and more intense solar radiation, which leads to coral bleaching and disease, often exacerbated by nutrient rich water run-off from denuded lands. Together the result is often mass coral mortality. Add this to acidic oceans [search], ocean dead zones [search] and widespread over-fishing [search] and it is clear we are witnessing the climate-mediated collapse of ocean ecosystems [search].

Death of coral reefs from climate change is not theory or conjecture of what might happen if we continue relentlessly emitting greenhouse gases. This is but the most recent evidence that climate change continues to unravel the biological foundation of existence, acting in conjunction with and magnifying forces such as habitat destruction, water diminishment and ocean decline. This biological homogenization [search] is happening now, in front of our eyes, and the processes and ramifications are known and understood by ecological science. Let us be clear: ecosystems which provide our sustenance are dying because of what we do. What level of destruction will it take to awaken the global consciousness?