Thursday 25 January 2018

Chasing Coral



Think of the very well-known Disney movie Finding Nemo, or think of another Disney movie, The Little Mermaid... how colourful and bright everything was. How scary is it knowing that all of it is dying? We have lost 80-90% of Coral in Florida alone since the 1970's, and that to me is terrifying. Chasing Coral* is a 2017 Netflix Original documentary made by the awesome American filmmaker Jeff Orlowski and I wanted to make this blog post to explain to everyone why it's so important to take the time to watch it.

Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. Divers, photographers and scientists set out on an ocean adventure to discover why the reefs are disappearing and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.


Richard Vevers an underwater photographer, lived and worked in London as an ad man for ten years. He has been diving into our beautiful oceans since the age of sixteen years old and decided one year that is was going to explore the reason why his favourite animal was dying and on his journey wondered that if this was happening to his favourite animal, what other animals is this happening to?

"When you look at our planet, it's unique in the universe because we've got an ocean that is the source of life. And it controls everything. It controls the weather. It controls the climate. It controls the oxygen we breathe. Without a healthy ocean, we do not have a healthy planet. How do you communicate these issues?" - Richard Vevers


What is Coral? Why is it so important to the earth?

A coral is a live animal with lots of polyps.
"A coral individual is really made up of thousands of small structures called polyps. Each polyp is a circular mouth, surrounded by tentacles and they can combine to be millions of them across a single animal. They have inside their tissues, small plants, these micro algae a million per centimetre squared. The plants that live inside them photosynthesize and the animal use that for their food. They essentially have food factories living inside of themselves. So as the animal grows, what you see is the animal growing over the skeleton and depositing the skeleton underneath it. They photosynthesize during the day. And at night, the planets are essentially asleep and the animal comes active. They expand their polyps. The tentacles come out. And now anything that swims by is caught by these stinging cells that are the tips of the tentacles. There are many different species of corals, and the different species of corals are different shapes. Some are very boring to look at, they look like big rocks on the bottom. Some are incredibly beautiful to look at. They have huge, huge branching patterns or massive plates. Some of them have petals of a flower. These are foundation species. They have all these other organisms that depend on them. They are the reason we have reefs."

"We look at climate change as if it's an issue in the air. And you go, "One or two degrees Celsius? Does that really matter?" But when you talk about the ocean... it's like your body temperature changes. And imagine your body temperature rises one-degree centigrade or two degrees centigrade. Over a period of time, that would be fatal. And that's the seriousness of the issue when you look at it in terms of the ocean." - Richard Vevers

What are your thoughts on the Coral dying?

With love, Alisha Valerie. x

33 comments:

  1. It's so heartbreaking to know that our next generation will be missing out on so many beautiful things that our world once had to offer. I'm a sucker for a good documentary so I will definitely check this out!

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    1. I really highly recommend it babe, it's such a wonderful yet heartbreaking documentary. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  2. It’s so heartbreaking to see. When I saw it on blue planet I was in tears. Well done you for publishing this post and hopefully spreading the word on how we can restore and help keep our beautiful planet the way it should be!

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    1. It really is heartbreaking isn't it babe? It really does make me so upset and breaks my heart too. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  3. This is so heartbreaking to see, we are destroying all the beautiful things on our planet. Hopefuly by spreading the word we can help to make a change!

    Love, Amie ❤
    The Curvaceous Vegan

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    1. I really hope that we can change it in time before anything else happens, it breaks my heart to know we are killing our Earth. Thank you so much for your comment beautiful πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  4. This was such an informative post. I had no idea at all that this was happening to be honest and it so shocking. Thank you for sharing!

    Jessica & James | www.foodandbaker.co.uk / www.foodandbakertravels.co.uk

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    1. I'm so glad that I've been able to bring it to the attention of people who didn't know anything about it so just knowing that I have made you aware of this makes me happy. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  5. Coral is so beautiful I really hate that this happening

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    1. It's one of the most beautiful things on this Earth and I agree, it's really heartbreaking. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  6. All I know about coral is that it is beautiful and that I enjoy looking at it. Thanks for educating me, I need to check out this documentary. Your content is amazing xx

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    1. I would adore to know what you think of this documentary if you check it out babe. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  7. My other half would love this documentary, I'll definitely point him towards it! It's so sad to know what's happening to our Earth and the oceans and how so many people just don't care and won't do anything until it's too late :( coral is beautiful along with all the sea creatures, let's hope one day people will wake up and we can change this!
    Alice Xx
    www.blacktulipbeauty.co.uk

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    1. I'd love it if you could make your partner aware of it babe so that more people know about what is happening to our beautiful Earth. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  8. If love to watch this. Me and my partner love watching things like this; for example we love anything like blue planet❤

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    1. I would really adore to know what you think of this if you get around to watching it lovely, tweet me your thoughts? Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  9. I didn’t know this but it’s terribly sad. Coral are so beautiful. I’ll definitely look out for this documentary.

    Jenny
    Http://www.jennyinneverland.com

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    1. I'm really happy to know that I've made you aware of what is happening, but it does break my heart to know that it's not happening. Send me a tweet and let me know what you think of it if/when you watch it please? Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  10. Gosh the vibrant stunning coral is slowly disappearing how sad for future generations, we need documentaries like this and programmes like the Blue Planet to remind us how precious it is.

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    1. I couldn't agree with you more and it proper breaks my heart. I agree that we need more documentaries and shows like this to know what is happening with our planet. I wish it was news worthy instead of certain silly celebrities being news worthy etc. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  11. I definitely need to watch this documentary so that I can be better informed about the plight of coral reefs, it really is heartbreaking to think that the beautiful scenery in The Little Mermaid could be entirely fictional for generations to come! Thank you for raising awareness for this important issue!

    Abbey ❤️ http://www.abbeylouisarose.co.uk

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    1. Please tweet me and let me know what you think of this documentary babe? I would really love to know your thoughts about it. Your comment has proper made me smile lovely. Thank you so much πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  12. I was very lucky to be able to see the coral reef in Egypt and it was so stunning, (it was worth the panic attack getting on the boat lol) but to think my son may not be able to see such a beautiful sight because it’s dying is heartbreaking. I haven’t seen this documentary but I will definitely sit down and watch it this evening. Thank you for sharing, it’s brilliant to raise awareness xxxxxxx

    Lucylovesbeautyxo.com

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    1. Oh wow babe, I am super jealous that not only did you get to see the coral but you also got to explore Egypt - it's somewhere I have always wanted to visit. It's such a beautiful thing in pictures that I wish I could be there to actaual see it with my own eyes. Thank you so much for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  13. I really do find documentaries like these hard but necessary to watch. This year I'm trying (as best I can) to reduce my plastic consumption to help protect our animals and oceans... These types of docus really spur me on. I'll definitely be checking this out, thank you for sharing!
    Kate x
    http://www.findingkate.co

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    1. I would really love to know what you think of this documentary if/when you watch it babe? Thanks for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  14. I haven't heard of this documentary until now, but it definitely sounds like something that my fiancΓ© would be interested in so I'll have to watch it with him. I've always been fascinated by the sea and sea life, and it's so important that we protect the coral reefs.
    Hayley x
    lifethroughtsg.com

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    1. I'd love it if you could show it to your fiance as it's such an important subject beautiful. Thanks for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  15. I never even knew this was happening! Thank you for sharing, you’ve opened my eyes! I’m going to have to go watch this now!
    Sian | sian-kathrine.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. I'm really happy that I've made you aware of this so hopefully you can make some changes to help towards saving the coral. Thanks for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  16. I’ll definitely be watching this! I’m really fascinated by climate change and how global warming is changing our earth in a bad way.

    Amy | hookedonthemusic.com

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    1. I'm so happy to hear that you're going to give it a watch. I would really love to know your thoughts about what you think of it babe? Thanks for your comment πŸŒΈπŸ’œ✨

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  17. It's so scary that this is happening and it really sucks. I wish people would do more to look after the planet! I've become a lot more conscious about my carbon footprint in the past few months and I'm still learning to make little habit changes to do my bit. More definitely needs to be done to encourage people to help but sadly, there are far too many people who don't care!

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