Crusted, warty fingers grasping upwards, brains scattered around, wrinkled and moist, blood-red tendrils snaking towards me. I’m not describing a scene from a horror movie, rather the stage for the most beautiful performance I’ll ever see: the diversity of life that is the Great Barrier Reef. Corals of all shapes and sizes and colours make up fantastical structures among which a dizzying variety of fish dance. And then the movie star of the coral reef enters the scene, a turtle, less than an arm’s length away yet totally unbothered. I, however, was very bothered.
I was lucky enough to visit the reef while studying on exchange in Canberra, Australia. Lucky to swim above turtles in their natural habitat, and lucky to do so before that horror movie becomes reality. Coral bleaching triggered by climate change, and associated ocean acidification, is devastating coral reefs, turning these most alive of places into literal graveyards, where bone-white coral skeletons are all that remain.
Of course, there are important steps to take when visiting as fragile an ecosystem as this to lessen our impact. Avoiding standing on the coral, breaking pieces off, or taking them home obviously prevents further damage to the reef. Wearing mineral sunscreen reduces the exposure of corals to the toxic chemicals present in conventional products which can induce bleaching. Taking all your rubbish away and disposing of it properly is another easy fix.
But you can’t kid yourself into thinking that these simple steps towards minimising the impacts of your travel will help protect such ecosystems in the long-term. Soaring ocean temperatures will continue to rise unchecked, ever more powerful storms will run rampant through fragile reefs, and fish will be replaced with floating plastic crap. Coral reefs will become ghost towns.
UN SDG 14: Life Below Water makes it clear that radical action is needed to safeguard marine ecosystems, and that such action is highly interrelated with SDG 13: Climate Action. As an exchange student, travelling across the world unsurprisingly involves many flights, and it’s tempting to feel guilty about the climate impact of these. Should we even travel such long distances at all? Maybe I’m biased – flying allowed me to see the Great Barrier Reef after all – but I think it’s worth it. Experiencing these unique places is surely the best way to educate people how to take care of them, and inspire them to even care at all.
Perhaps this hints at the greatest potential for studying abroad sustainably: it’s a uniquely powerful opportunity to learn from other countries and cultures and share your knowledge in return, to create connection and build community stretching across the globe. Because together we are far more capable of campaigning for systemic action, and of making our communities more resilient. After all, the most rewarding aspect of my exchange was volunteering in local projects on nature reserves with the ANU Intrepid Landcare society – you can’t go wrong with getting your hands dirty and planting some trees.
