I attempted a guilt-free trip to the Great Barrier Reef

It’s a convergence of more than 600 known types of coral – visible from outer space, and forming the largest living structure on the planet, home to thousands of marine species. Since the advent of scuba, the Great Barrier Reef has been a universal allegory for nature’s beauty and abundance, surpassing even the rainforest for biodiversity.

But today the Reef is one of the most conspicuous victims of anthropogenic climate change. In 2024 it experienced its fifth major coral bleaching…