After hearing about the documentary “Chasing Coral” for months, I finally decided to sit down and actually watch it. The documentary starts out with the narrator, Richard Vevers, telling us how after spending ten years in advertising, working with some of London’s top agencies, he felt that there was something more he was meant to do with his life and later found himself in Australia doing underwater photography. Over time, Vevers noticed some of his favorite sea creatures were disappearing, which lead to the curiosity of what else was disappearing in the rest of the world’s oceans. In the last 30 years, the world has lost 50% of its coral reefs. Vevers acknowledged one of the biggest issues with the ocean being that it is “out of sight, out of mind” for the general public, which he called an “advertising issue”. The purpose for this documentary was for an assembled team of scientists, divers, engineers, and photographers to study and document the disappearance of corals in order to show the public what’s happening in our oceans. The ocean has an important role in our source of life; it controls things such as the climate and oxygen we breathe. With the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, more heat becomes trapped in our atmosphere and the majority is absorbed by the ocean which leads to an increase in water temperature. Throughout the documentary, Vevers traveled to meet with different scientists to learn more about the biology of coral and ended up exploring coral reefs that had turned white. After conducting studies with a team of coral reef biologists, they discovered turning white was a stress response to a 2˚C increase in temperature and ultimately ended with death. What was most interesting about this documentary was that this was the first time someone had captured this anomaly. In recent years, more people have learned of the damage several name brand sunscreens have on coral reefs and some cities have started enforcement of alternative sun protection methods. Like Vevers said, the ocean has an “out of sight” issue, so while people may know of the damage happening to corals, it is completely eye-opening to see the damage for yourself. Coral reefs are living organisms that provide habitat for many different species that becomes a resource of food for humans. For some countries, coral reefs play a big role in the economy because of the tourist attraction. The disappearance of coral reefs would completely disturb the oceanic ecosystem and the economic and social aspects of human life. The documentary ended with sharing the possibility of restoring the coral reefs through changes in human behavior. Overall, I believe the message of the documentary was necessary to share in order to get the attention of the general public and work together toward solving the issues of climate change. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone; it’s very informative and each scene is more captivating than the last.
Indeed, tourist attraction to coral is a big part of many countries’ economies. This past break I was one of those tourists in the Bahamas. Much of the coral I saw there while snorkeling was bleached as well. It’s sad. And what’s interesting is that the locals are noticing. I spoke with a fisherman who gives tours around the islands and he said that he didn’t use to believe in climate change, but over the years he started to notice warmer weather, more intense storms, and changing sea life. I saw this documentary as well, you wrote an excellent review.
I’ve seen this documentary as well and seeing the before and after pictures of reefs was devastating. Our oceans are so important for so many reasons, yet many don’t think about them or realize their importance. The ocean is easy to not think about and I wonder how we can address this issue? Recently, with the talk of skipping a straw to save a turtle, I think more people are becoming concerned with ocean pollution since the campaign relates it to something they know and love, sea turtles. I hope this continues to encourage people to make the switch from plastic goods to reusable goods.
Although I have not seen this documentary, the topic is very depressing. One of the main organisms that supports our entire ocean is in serious decline, yet there is little that is being done. Scientists are experimenting with the coral genome and are trying to make it more tolerant of the changes in temperature.
Wow! I have not seen the documentary but I am going to look into it . It sounds very interesting. It sad to see how much damage is being caused to marine life. My biology professor, always discussed the importance of coral reefs and he would over the summer take a couple of kids to the sea and they would study coral reefs together. Coral reefs do wonders and I think with educating the public and being aware of the importance of them , it could bring people together to make a change. Overall, well done and I enjoyed reading your post! 🙂