In his book The Future of Life, entemologist and best-selling author Edward O. Wilson writes his hypothesis for a solution to the world’s rapid species loss. He says that in order for there to be progress, both the development side and the environmental side must make some concessions, in order to create meaningful consensus.

In his vivid portrait of this rapid loss of our world’s diversity, Wilson notes that we must immediately salvage the world’s hotspots for diversity. He mentions these areas as a very small percentage of the total earth surface - parts of Hawaii, Atlantic Brazil, Ecuador, Madagascar, the Philippines, Burma, the Southern California deserts. In this short list, he states, "Foremost are the coral reefs, which in their extremely high biological diversity rank as the rainforests of the sea. More than half around the world - including, for example, those of the Maldives and parts of the Caribbean and Philippines have been savaged variously by overharvesting and rising temperatures, and are in critical condition."

The coral reefs are like cities, and so they harbor much of the diversity of the ocean. It is said that one-third of all species in the ocean live in the coral reefs, even though the reefs are a tiny fraction of the seas themselves.

To conservationists, the reefs are among the very top priorities. There is little tolerance for any kind of development that may threaten yet another reef. The Abacos are filled with beautiful, undeveloped beaches. But few of these beaches are adjacent to a coral reef, and none so much as Guana Cay itself.

But what are coral reefs exactly, and why might the science behind Discovery Land Company’s plan to create a sound ‘eco’ golf course sound good…only on paper.

Corals are intricate limestone formations in the Earth's shallow tropical seas, created by small animals called polyps.

To imagine a polyp, you may imagine a sea anenome. Now imagine that you shrink him down to a fraction of his size: A smallish, jellyish bugger with a crown for a head and a mouth inside the crown.

What makes him different from a sea anenome is that he builds a calcifying base around his bottom, while growing upward. He has tentacles, and he even stings. His limestone base is actually his protective home. He has the ability to clone himself; to split in two.

He, and all his clones, they build a very large limestone-based community; a house of polyps. The architecture of a species’ house depends on several things, such as depth. Shallow dwelling polyps must build sturdy homes, to fight the waves and tides. Deeper corals can be more extravagant, building structures that worship the little light they have.

Regardless, each of the thousands of species of coral grows in a unique structure. Each of these structural 'architectures' are like a building by a certain architect, in a city of many architects.

Polyps actually grow algal cells within their own tissues, and so the plant and animal share each other’s strengths to capture food and nutrients. This symbiotic relationship defines the way – and requirements, of a coral colony. The animal inside those coral formations basically grows his crops in his head.