The Ruined Reef
By Scarlett Young
Hi! I’m Scarlett and I’m OUTRAGED!!!
By Climate Change.
I’m ten years old with curly, brown hair and
brown eyes. This story is set in Australia. I’m writing this story to spread
awareness about coral bleaching.
But first of all…
What is coral?
Many people think coral is a plant, no. It’s an
animal, an underwater invertebrate (an animal without a backbone). It only
becomes visibly alive at night-time to eat the plankton in the water meanwhile,
throughout the day it provides a feeding ground, breeding ground and home for
the underwater animals like fish, dolphins and crabs.
Now, let’s get to the ACTUAL story.
Hi! I’m Nevada, I was just in school today, they
taught us about coral bleaching. Let me tell you about it and why I am now
worried; as you should be...
I woke up to a dull, drizzly morning; dreading
going back to school. I never realised how much I hated going back to school
after the holidays. I walked downstairs, “Mum! What’s for breakfast!?” I
shouted down the stairs and started to run down them.
“Cereal!” she shouted back to me just as I sat
down at the dining table, Mum putting my bowl down with my spoon.
Mum drove me to school; the weather wasn’t too
bad; I guess. I remember only a few years ago when every drive to school was a
sunny one with me begging mum to turn the air con up in the car and we would
spend our weekends hunting for the rarest shells on the beach; we haven’t been
able to do this for so long.
I ran through the doors; sure it was only
drizzling but I hated getting wet. I wasn’t too wet...just damp. The first day
of Year Six.
I found a table, put my stuff down, walked over
to the bookcase and picked out a book.
The Dolphin’s Call caught my eye, I picked it up
and walked back to my desk, sitting down calmly and opening the thick book.
Miss started to take the register, we had to answer with, “I’m here Miss.”
Once she had checked us in, Miss introduced our
English topic. It was about coral reefs. She started to read the book to us.
“It all started with one little polyp landing somewhere safely and starting a
new coral reef...”
After she had finished the story, our class went
to the beach. We were learning about the coral and looking at the bleached
coral we had found. It looked dead, sad and depressing. A huge storm hit and we
had to stay calm, but everyone else ran off. The teacher ran after them,
thinking everyone had left but I hadn’t.
All of a sudden before I could run after my
teacher the water started to flood very quickly and I got trapped on an isle of
sand, choppy water caving in on me. After a while of standing on the isle of
sand feeling helpless, my lungs empty from shouting help against the crashing
water sounds, the water made me slip into the stormy, wavy and rough ocean. I
was bobbing up and down, still trying to scream for help. I could feel the
seaweed brushing my feet and legs, the fish speeding around me and I could see
the dead coral, heaps of dead coral. It was a stark grey-ish white. The last
thing I knew I was underwater, my vision blurry, hazy and darkening.
I woke up to the sound of my teacher shouting at
someone, I realised she was shouting at me, the class was staring right at me.
“Nevada! Focus now!”
I could hear the sound of rain clashing against
the window, the sound of faint thunder getting closer and louder and every now
and then I would see a flash, everything going white for a split second – lightning!
Once the day had finished the weather was sunny
again.
I decided to try for the school council and got
in. The first meeting was the following week, my mission to protect our coral
so they help to protect our coastlines. I also volunteered to help clean up the
beach in my free time to protect our marine life.
Take Care Of The Planet as it takes care of us.
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