The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the world’s natural wonders, so large it can be seen from space and is one of the world’s largest living structures. Roughly the size of Italy.
It is home to over a thousand different types of marine life: 1400 types of hard coral, one-third of the world’s soft coral, 1,625 species of fish, over 3000 species of mollusks, 630 types of starfish/sea urchins, 14 species of sea snakes, 215 types of birds.
133 different types of sharks and rays, 30 species of whales and dolphins, six out of seven species of marine turtles, and many species are still undiscovered. But the sea creatures living near it are in trouble
Large sections of the Great Barrier Reef, across hundreds of miles in the northern sector, were recently found to be dead. In the north, two-thirds of the reefs are now dead. The state of coral reefs is a telling sign of the health of the seas.
The damage to the Great Barrier Reef is caused by global climate change. In poor countries, hundreds of millions of people get their protein primarily from reef fish, and the loss of reef fish supply could become a humanitarian crisis.
There are nine million people that die of starvation each year, and with the world’s coral reefs dying at an extreme rate, how many more people will die of starvation?
Corals require warm water to thrive, but they are exquisitely sensitive to extra heat. Scientists say that we have lost at least half of the world’s coral reefs.
Coral reefs produce some of the oxygen we breathe. Often described as underwater rainforests, they populate a tiny fraction of the ocean but provide habitats for one in four marine species. They provide medical research for cures to diseases including cancer, arthritis, and bacteria and billions of dollars in revenue from tourism, fishing, and other commerce.
The focus has been on damage to Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef, but other reefs have been damaged as badly or worse across the world, from Japan to Hawaii to Florida.
Hosea 4:1 The LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Hosea 4:3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish=lose or lack vitality; grow weak or feeble, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and diseases; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.
Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luke 21:36 Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son.
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