Readers React: There’s hope in the fight against climate change — and scientists trying to grow new coral are providing it

To the editor: I am an avid reader of the Los Angeles Times, and I gravitate to the animal and critter stories because my elementary school students can grasp the urgency of their challenges. The article on the painstaking effort to save Florida’s coral reef is a perfect example of this.

These corals are extremely fragile, as this article makes clear, and their future is in grave doubt because of climate change. The bright side? They have help because of what these scientists are doing.

Every night I pray for the millions of species facing danger so great that we cannot begin to wrap our heads around the problem. Sad? Yes, but when The Times writes such an in-depth article on how this problem can be turned around, it gives kids and adults some hope. And that is what we all can use more of.

Baby those corals, even if it is one centimeter at a time. We will hold our breath that this is working because there are just enough people to make a change.

Christine Cecchini, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I found yet more about what we’re doing to the planet — in this case, coral reefs — because of our addiction to burning fossil fuels.

It’s sad because we’re losing, perhaps permanently, one of our major resources and ecosystems. It’s frustrating because the country most responsible for filling the atmosphere with greenhouse gases is willing to spend millions on “mitigation” and “salvage” projects like coral restoration (wonderful though they may be), but not enough on addressing the source of this and other climate-related disasters.

What will it take to wake up our leaders? Perhaps a little flooding at Mar-a-Lago?

Cher Gilmore, Newhall

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