LISTENING FLUENCY LIBRARY

#235

Deep English
LISTENING FLUENCY LIBRARY
Rest In Peace Great Barrier Reef Humanity Grieves

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 #235 Rest In Peace Great Barrier Reef Humanity Grieves

passed away: In the not-too-distant future, we could be

died hearing something like this in the news: The
biggest living organism on Earth has passed
reef: an organism away. Australias Great Barrier Reef lived for
made up of coral more than 25 billion years. At 1,400 miles long,
usually just below
the Great Barrier Reef was the only living
the seas surface
organism visible from space. It was home to
biodiversity: more biodiversity than all of Europe.
many different
types of plants While its sad enough to hear that our planets
and animals biggest organism has died, whats even more
existing together
heartbreaking is that we are the ones who killed
dependency: it. Our dependency on oil and gas has caused
reliance, need global warming which has killed this magnificent
organism.

The Great Barrier Reef isnt the only life that has
been lost due to humans and our misuse of the
Earths resources. In the last 40 years, we have
lost more than 50 percent of all this planets
wildlife. More than 76 percent of freshwater
wildlife has disappeared. If things continue this
way, its predicted that in twenty years well have
sorry state of
lost two-thirds of all wildlife on Earth.
affairs: sad
circumstance,
disappointing We are now seeing species extinction at more
situation than 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate.
Humans are to blame for this sorry state of
affairs.

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 #235 Rest In Peace Great Barrier Reef Humanity Grieves
grief: feeling of
sadness after
losing something
turn a blind eye:
ignore, pretend
not to see
Deep English, 2011-2016 | www.deepenglish.com
A popular theory says that people who are dying
experience five stages of grief known as DABDA. A
person starts off feeling Denial and then moves
through feelings of Anger, then Bargaining, then
Depression, and finally Acceptance of the fact
that death is near.
Some psychologists are now using these five
stages of personal grief to describe humanitys
collective grief over planetary death and loss.
The first stage is denial. Many people are still in
denial that climate change is even
happening. They turn a blind eye to anything
having to do with the problem.
The second stage is anger. People at this stage
have moved past denial. They are now angry
about the state of our Earth and the loss of
species.
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 #235 Rest In Peace Great Barrier Reef Humanity Grieves

The third stage of grief is bargaining. In this

stage, a person is willing to make a trade to
regain what they have lost. At this stage, people
who are grieving stop playing the blame game.
playing the
Instead, they focus on making swift changes to
blame game: save the planet.
putting the fault
on someone else The fourth stage is depression. In this stage,
people begin to accept the reality of the loss.
profound: They feel profound sadness or even numbness.
intense, deeply
meaningful
And finally, in the fifth stage, people "accept" the
demise: situation. Hopefully, humans never have to fully
destruction accept the demise of the earth, because that
would mean accepting our own demise as well.

What do you think? Can comparing planetary

grief with personal grief, help humanity find a
way forward? Or is it too late? Will we actually be
hearing about the death of the greatest barrier
reef on earth in our lifetime?

Photos / Credits:
Photo #1 (cover) by Fe Ilya:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/renneville/2908748583//

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