Callie Blake
Jul 23, 2017 · 2 min read
Chasing Coral Netflix Documentary

I have just watched the most mind boggling( in a good sense) documentary that has left me reeling with millions of questions.

“Chasing Coral”, directed by Jeff Orlowski, is about the visual documentation of coral bleaching and fluorescing around the globe. Various divers, cinematographers, and marine biologists explore the effects of rising water temperatures on the oceans ecosystems; specifically coral reefs. Their results are overwhelmingly devastating with images and videos of mass extinctions, severe depletion of fishing communities, and the lack of interest about the issue in the human world.

Before I watched this hour and a half long video I thought I knew what coral was, how it worked, and it’s importance to the world; little did I know my mind was about receive a large amount of information telling me how wrong I was. Did you know coral is an animal? How about it’s ability to photosynthesize? What can you tell me about it’s ability to create its own personal sunscreen? I didn’t know the answers to those questions until after the documentary either.

This small group of people were able to capture the disastrous effects of global warming and bring it to people’s home. The pictures were able to grasp the issue in a language everyone could understand. Even if you couldn’t say it was a result of global warming at least you knew the discoloration of the corals weren’t good.

I loved every second of this picturesque film. Not just because I love to learn but because I admired their efforts to solve a commonly ignored problem. Barely anyone realizes that the ocean they are playing in now won’t be the same ocean they are hoping to play in later; which is another point they brought up towards the end.

The documentary revitalized my passion for writing and that desire to change the world. Zachery Rago, Richard Vevers, and all of the other cast members took it upon themselves to spend hours upon hours in the water to capture the deaths of hundreds of coral reefs and reveal the importance for globe wide conservation efforts; and that’s what I want to do.

Efforts and events like these deserve to be told about around the world, even in the most remote places. For those who can’t visually see it should be able to read about it somewhere, and I want to be that writer they read it from. The only fear I have is about how to convey the importance of climate change, the extinction of species, and conservation efforts. “Chasing Coral” seemed to have a relatively easy time showing people the value of the film, but how do I show a large amount of people the value in the topics I’m writing about?

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade