Ward said the impact of bleaching had been extensive across 16 sites that she visited in the reef’s southern section, affecting coral species that had usually been resistant to bleaching. Some coral had started to die, a process that usually takes weeks or months after bleaching occurs.

“I feel devastated,” she said. “I’ve been working on the reef since 1992 but this [event], I’m really struggling with.”

As do I Dr. Ward, with ever election result reinforcing the deveststation of the orthodoxy and the disregard my fellow citizens have for a livable biosphere.