RantCrush Top 5: October 14, 2016

2016 is going to go down as one of the most effed up years in history. Too many beloved celebrities died, bees were added to the endangered species list for the first time, and this presidential election…well, you get the drift.

Now a UNESCO report for tourism and climate change has reported that at 25 million years old, the oldest living thing on earth–the Great Barrier Reef–has died. This is fucking awful, guys. If there was ever going to be an end to the world, this would be it. But seriously how did we let it get this bad? Reports say that the reef died from a “long illness” of bleaching and at the beginning of this year it began its rapid decline. The reef was 1,400 miles long, with 2,900 individual reefs, and 1,050 islands.

And that’s not to mention it was home to thousands upon thousands, if not millions, of organisms. Scientists don’t think the reef will be able to repair itself like many other regenerative organisms can.

The Great Barrier Reef was pronounced dead today after 25 million years. pic.twitter.com/V49LrZlwyg

— toni (@Plantsandhoes) October 14, 2016

Let this be a lesson to us all. Let’s pour one out for the Great Barrier Reef and all of its splendor…actually, don’t. Drink some water, it’s precious.

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