All Saints, College

Ewing Avenue

Bull creek WA 6149

Thursday the 20th of May 2022

Ben Morton

6 Aveley Street

Willetton WA 6155

Dear Mr Morton,

My name is Tyler Wheeler. I am a Year 8 student at All Saints College, who is writing to you to bring your attention to the devastating gradual loss of The Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier reef is being predominantly affected by Coral Bleaching and the two main reasons for Coral Bleaching are Climate Change and Water Pollution. We need to take strong action to stop coral bleaching, or else our reefs will die and there will be no more fish in the sea. I strongly believe that if we take notice of this and ban coal mining and focus on renewable energy to meet our requirements, we can make a great impact on global warming. We also need to educate farmers and provide incentives to stop the use of harmful fertilisers and chemicals which are polluting our reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system home to many species of marine life and plays a crucial part in our environment by recycling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We need to conserve the reef in order to secure the future of our seas. The two main reasons that cause coral bleaching are climate change and water pollution. Coral bleaching has been affecting our reefs and as a result we have lost over half of its coral since 1985, contributing to the loss of many thousands of marine animals. Firstly, climate change is affected by every person using energy and especially coal which heats up our planet and changes the temperatures of the sea, causing changes to our weather system, bringing bigger storms that all damage the reef and cause coral bleaching. Secondly, water pollution entering our seas from farmland due to fertilisers and chemicals that aren’t environmentally friendly are also causing The Great Barrier Reef to die. Fertilisers and chemicals used in farming go into the water system and out to the sea which is changing the sea making it more acidic which causes bleaching. If we decide to ignore the continuing destruction of The Great Barrier Reef, we will lose one of Australia’s wonders of the world.

The Great Barrier Reef has existed for over 500 million years, which is why it is so important to realise the outcome if we do not act now. To save our Reef from climate change and water pollution we must act now or otherwise the outcome will be catastrophic, millions of marine animals will die and 348,700 km² of beautiful reef will be lost. Just think about what future generations would say if you don’t choose to make a change! The economic effect of losing our reef will be the loss of over 64, 000 jobs which rely on The Great Barrier Reef, contributing 6.4 billion each year to the economy.

As custodians of The Great Barrier Reef, Australia has the responsibility to be leading on emissions reduction. The earlier we cut emissions, the less damage towards beautiful places like our reef will continue. However, I feel our federal government is taking slow and inadequate action, resulting in more harmful outcomes which are affecting our natural wonders like our Reef and with huge economic damage. To tackle these two very important issues I have raised, firstly we should stop taking coal out of the ground and burning it, put a stop to any new coal mining and move towards clean renewable energy. This would immediately have an effect on global warming and hence help the reefs to heal. Secondly, we need to stop farmers from using harmful chemicals by offering them alternatives such as organic farming methods or non-harmful fertilisers.

We need to take strong action to stop coral bleaching, or else our reefs will die and there will be no more fish in the sea. I strongly believe that if we take notice of this and ban coal mining and focus on renewable energy to meet our requirements, together with your help we can make a great impact on global warming.

I appreciate you taking time to read this letter and hope to see a reply soon.

Yours faithfully,

Tyler Wheeler

Year 8 Student at All Saints, College