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Writer's pictureRefuse and Resuse

First-hand devastation of climate change and plastic pollution

For the second part of my trip to Brazil, we lived on a boat for three nights. We went to a national park, called Abrolhos. We snorkeled almost every single day, investigating the health of the ecosystem and the reefs. However, during one of our "relaxation" snorkels, we saw the true effect of climate change. The coral at the bottom of the ocean was tinted white, and our guide said it was because of the increased acidity and temperature of the ocean as a result of climate change. This meant that the coral was bleached. It was disheartening to see a pale white coral in the middle of a flourishing ecosystem. After that event, we were sent to an island to partake in beach cleanup.



As a highly protected national park, it is sad to see that there are plastic bottles and caps on the shore that came all the way from Asia. It shows that even thousands of miles away in a secluded location, plastic continued its terror to plague the beautiful ecosystem of The Abrolhos National Park.

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