Tue March 19, 2013 Australia's Heron Island: A Canary In The
Coal Mine For Coral Reefs? Originally published on Fri March 22,
2013 10:02 am NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris traveled
to Australia's Great Barrier Reef to find out how the coral
reefs are coping with increased water temperature and increasing
ocean acidity, brought about by our burning of fossil fuels. Day
1: Richard gets a hefty dose of bad news. I've seen the future,
and it isn't pretty. That's a tough sentence to write because
the setting for this unhappy discovery is spectacular. Heron
Island sits in tropical turquoise waters about 25 miles off the
northeast coast of Australia. It's an island on the far southern
end of the Great Barrier Reef — one of our planet's most
dramatic natural features, akin to the tropical rain forests,
only submerged. The low vegetation is filled with fearless and
noisy sea birds. Snorkelers watch as graceful turtles swim
toward the coral sand beaches — it's egg-laying time for them.
Within earshot of the la