Let's begin...

Hello everyone! Our names are Leah Potcner, Danielle Jones and Sal DiStefano.  We are in the Arts and Social Studies section of the curriculum block at Salem State University and have been assigned a group research project. Our topic is about the Coral Reefs and how they are in serious danger! This not only affects living things in the ocean, but it also affects US! "Coral Reefs benefit the environment and people in numerous ways such as protecting shores from the impact of waves and from storms, providing benefits to humans in the form of food and medicine, and providing economic benefits to local communities from tourism". (Coral Reefs: Ecosystems of Environmental and Human Value)

The reason we are researching this is because the Coral Reef is so valuable and we really need to be aware of how much danger it is in. It is hard to be aware of it because it is not something that we can easily see - such as the rain forest. We can all see that the rain forests are being destroyed, but because Coral Reefs are underwater, it is "out of sight, out of mind". We really need to raise our awareness on this issue and we are hoping that our research project will help all of you to become more aware as well.