I WANT TODAY TO CONNECT ONE OF THE MOST MOVING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE with one of the grave dangers related to warming that confronts us.

Thirty years ago, I was privileged to visit St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and visit the national marine park off St. Thomas. There, at great length, I did the snorkeling turn — mask, breathing tube, paddling fins and all. My reward, looking down, was to see the beautiful forms and colors of coral and a breathtaking array of sea life in a myriad of dramatic and moving manifestations. It became, for me, a stunning visual and emotional experience almost beyond words.

It is with that experience in mind that I approach the subject and the tragic problem of coral reef destruction.

First, from the International Coral Reef Initiative on the “Benefits of Coral Reefs”:

“Coral reefs are often called the rainforests of the sea, both due to the vast amount of species they harbour, and to the high productivity they yield. Aside from the hundreds of species of coral, reefs support extraordinary biodiversity and are home to a multitude of different types of fish, invertebrates and sea mammals. Covering less than one percent of the ocean floor, reefs support an estimated twenty-five percent of all marine life, with over 4,000 species of fish alone.”

From a piece from OceanWorld, concerning coral reef destruction and conservation, we learn that “Ten percent of the world’s reefs have been completely destroyed. In the Philippines, where coral reef destruction is the worst, over 70 percent have been destroyed and only 5 percent can be said to be in good condition. What has happened to destroy so many reefs? Human population has become very large, and Earth is warming. …

“Warming of the ocean causes corals to sicken and die. Even a rise of one degree in the average water temperature can hurt the coral. Due to global warming, 1998 was the hottest year in the last six centuries and 1998 was the worst year for coral. The most obvious sign that coral is sick is coral bleaching. That is when either the algae inside die, or the algae leave the coral. The algae are what give coral its color, so without the algae the coral has no color and the white of the limestone shell shines through the transparent coral bodies. People have been noticing coral bleaching since the turn of the century, but only since the 1980s has it gotten really bad.”

From the article “5 of the World’s Most Endangered Coral Reefs” by Beth Buczynski, Aug. 4, 2013, we learn the following:

“Coral reefs are a canary in the coal mine for the health of our planet. As land dwellers, we can’t see or feel the effects of climate change and other detrimental forces at work in the ocean, but coral reefs can. The strange changes occurring in the world’s most important reef systems show us that something is terribly wrong.”

Examples cited by Buczynski include the following.

• The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, which has experienced a 50-percent decline in coral cover over the last 27 years.

• The Southeast Asian Coral Reefs, which include 100,000 square kilometers of coral reefs — almost 34 percent of the world total — are in grave danger. “Human activities now threaten an estimated 88 percent of Southeast Asia’s coral reefs, jeopardizing their biological and economic value to society.”

• Nearly two-thirds of coral reefs in the Caribbean are threatened by human activities. “In addition, coral bleaching episodes — the most direct evidence of stress from global climate change on Caribbean marine biodiversity — are on the rise.”

Among other problem areas cited by Buczynski are the Florida Keys coral reefs, with a 44-percent decline in coral cover from 1996 to 2005.

From “Under the Sea, Coral Reefs in Peril,” by John Collins Rudolf, we get reinforcement for the role of warming in this environmental tragedy.

“A ghostly pallor is overtaking the world’s coral reefs. This draining of color results when heat-stressed corals expel the algae they rely on for food — and which are responsible for their bright and beautiful hues. Death often follows.

“Reefs have long been under threat from destructive fishing practices, sediment and nutrient runoff, coral mining, reckless tourism and coastal development. Now, scientists say, global warming is accelerating the destruction.

“One of the worst episodes of coral bleaching began last spring and summer, and affected reefs in virtually all the world’s tropical waters, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean.

“In Panama, the bleaching was the most graphic I’ve ever seen,” said Nancy Knowlton, a marine biologist with the Smithsonian Institution. “Everything was just bone white.”

Nearly three quarters of the planet’s reefs are now at risk of serious degradation, according to a report by the World Resources Institute in February. Another analysis, by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, found that as much as a fifth of the world’s reefs have been degraded beyond recognition or lost entirely.

“By midcentury, virtually all reefs will be at risk, scientists fear, not just from local threats or global warming, but from an increasingly acidified ocean. Much of the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere ends up in the oceans, where it forms a weak acid, lowering the pH level of the seas. Scientists have long speculated that the rising acidity of ocean waters would inhibit the growth of corals.”

While there are innumerable further studies documenting these relationships, I will conclude with the Jan. 3, 2014 report, “Are We Witnessing The End of Coral?” by Joanna M. Foster.

“Tropical coral reefs form the very foundation of marine biodiversity. Sadly, their seemingly inevitable demise may prove to be one of the first irreversible consequences of climate change.

“That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive new report on abrupt climate changes from the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers have long hypothesized about climate-induced points of no return, like sudden catastrophic melting of ice caps or a dramatic shift in the Gulf stream, but the Academy report emphasizes that ecosystem collapse as environmental conditions steadily march past livable thresholds is much more likely in the next few decades. And tropical coral reefs are one of the most precarious ecosystems, thanks to increasingly warm and acidic oceans.

“Climate change poses a double threat to coral reefs. Warming ocean waters lead to a potentially fatal process known as coral ‘bleaching,’ in which reef-building corals eject algae living inside their tissues that supply them with most of their food. Coral bleaching occurs when water temperatures are just 2-4° F above normal summertime temperatures. Bleached corals are weak and often succumb to disease.

“At the same time as warming waters are pushing corals to the brink of what they can tolerate, the oceans are absorbing about one quarter of annual CO2 emissions from human activities. That’s nearly 24 million tons of CO2 every day. CO2 dissolved in seawater increases ocean acidity. More acidic oceans decrease the availability of carbonate ions, which coral use to build their calcium carbonate skeletons. In short, sour oceans spell the end to reef building.

“According to a recent report prepared for the Warsaw climate talks by 500 of the world’s leading ocean acidification experts, the oceans are currently acidifying at an ‘unprecedented rate, faster than at any time in the last 300 million years.’ (A period that included four mass extinctions of species.) ‘Since the start of the industrial revolution, ocean water has become 26 percent more acidic.’”

As we sow, so shall we reap.

I close with a transition from the scientific, with its ominous portent for the future of the reef, to a 1939 description by one observer of the aesthetics of what would be lost — of what I experienced on that wonderful day 30 years ago.

“The unrivaled splendor and wealth of forms and the delicate tints of the coral structures, the brilliant colours of fishes, clams, sea anemones, worms, crabs, star fishes and the whole rest of the reef animals are so attractive and interesting,” wrote Johannes Umbgrove, “that it seems impossible to give an adequate description of such a profusion of serene and fascinating beauty.”

Jerome Page is a Benicia resident.