the world's second largest aquarium

I read an article about the Great Barrier Reef the other day, and it said that in 20 years, this great ecosystem will have completely collapsed. I'm not too sure how they came about this number, or how they calculated the rapid depletion of the ecosystem, but if we're not careful this prediction can very well turn into fact one day. The Great Barrier Reef is home to almost 3,000 different reefs over 900 islands stretching 3,000 kilometers off the Coast of Queensland in Northeast Australia. It can be seen from outer-space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. It is truly a natural wonder. It's natural ecology is even more astonishing. Many species of animals including whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks, stingrays, crocodiles, seahorse, and over 215 different species of birds gracefully inhabit this natural phenomenon. It is also known to house over 2,200 species of plants, and more than 1,500 species of fish dwell in this delicate ecosystem.

However, man-made pollution along with climate change (whether its "Global Warming," or the increasing presence of carbon dioxide found in our atmosphere) is attributing to the ecosystem's collapse. Water quality has also been declining in the past few decades and will continue to do so. I'm not an ecologist, or an oceanographer, but one thing I remember from taking an introductory course in E8 (Environmental Analysis and Design) is that we are doing a great job at slowly destroying our planet. Whether it be the coal factories spurting up more dioxide in China, or American industrial complexes dumping toxic waste in our backyards, we are not taking care of the planet we are all inhabiting.

I don't have a solution to this grand problem, and frankly I wouldn't know where to begin. But corporations and $$$hungry mongrels have taken over the world, and aren't looking at giving up their reins. If we don't pay attention now we are going to pay dearly for it later. Even if we are long gone.