After 25 million years, one of the world’s most incredible living ecosystems, the Great Barrier Reef, which covers over 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia, has been declared dead. The cause: climate change – or more specifically, reef bleaching. This has been declared the worst reef bleaching event in history.

Bleaching is when corals are stressed by changes in conditions, such as temperature, light or nutrients, so they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white.

As of last May, scientists found that one third of the reefs were completely dead, and over 93 percent were affected by bleaching.

At this point, the Reef is beyond repair. The vast numbers of marine life is gone. During its life, the Great Barrier Reef was home to 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 species of mollusk, 450 species of coral, 220 species of birds and 30 species of whales and dolphins.

The corals have become a wasteland. Basically, “if it was a person, it would be on life support," reports Independent.

Rowan Jacobosen, one of the leading environmental writers for the reef, declared to the Express, “I used to have the best job in the world. Now it’s turned sour... I’m 71 years old now, and I think I may outlive the reef.”

"No one knows if a serious effort could have saved the reef, but it is clear that no such effort was made," he said.

You can read the obituary Mr. Jacobsen wrote for the Great Barrier Reef here.

The Great Barrier Reef is beyond help now. The worst part is that we saw its destruction coming, and we did nothing to stop it. The death of this ecosystem is only another effect of climate change. We need to step up and speak up for our earth, because time is of the essence. Start the conversation. Let’s stop any more reefs from facing the same fate as the Great Barrier Reef.