Is this beautiful white coral reef beautiful? Maybe. Without the awareness of what’s going on.
But in fact, this is a picture of bleaching coral reef that has lost the food-producing algae plants in it due to global warming and is transitioning to its death. Once I understand the story, this white skeleton-looking coral reef gives me chills.
It’s surprising how emotional I could get when seeing the largest live animal structure on earth planet dies off at an alarming rate through this Netflix documentary. Chasing Coral was made by coral reef enthusiasts who were trying to document the bleaching rate of the coral reef in the 10 sites around the world including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Hawaii, Bahamas, and many other sites.
The coral reef is not only one of the largest animal structures that resides on the seafloor but also provides food and shelter to a quarter of all ocean lives. They are at the most fundamental level of the entire ocean ecological system. The function of the coral reef to the ocean is comparable to trees on the land. Without a healthy coral reef system, many scientists are worried that entire classes of the ocean ecology life will be wiped out. Let alone the human economies that have relied on these ocean productions.
This is one of those world problems that are endangering our very planet home but have not raised enough awareness in the world yet. It really requires a group of advocates who have creative thinking, enthusiasm, determination, and collaborative spirits to create initiatives, bring more awareness and invite actions from the current and the upcoming generations.
What can I do to help stop this massacre of one of the most beautiful creatures in the world?