Members of the Conservation Committee watched Chasing Coral, a Sundance Film Festival award winning documentary that traces the catastrophic destruction of the world’s coral reefs because of rising ocean temperatures.
Corals are living organisms that support at least 25% of all marine life, and in return, human life. Seen up close, they have incredible variety and beauty. And in the last three decades they’ve been dying off at an astonishing rate. The visually stunning movie takes the viewer to key regions of coral reefs that are dying or have died after bleaching as sea temperatures rise just a degree or two Celsius. Bleaching is a stress response to increasing temperatures and eventually is fatal, especially when those bleaching events occur repeatedly.
Since the 1970s, more than 93% of excess heat captured by greenhouse gases has been absorbed by the oceans, contributing to the warming of the oceans. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lost one-third of its coral as of 2016. In the last 30 years we have lost 50% of the world’s corals. By 2030, it’s predicted that 90% of the world’s coral reefs will be dead unless we intervene immediately.
The movie sources many experts in oceanography to form an accurate picture of the crisis that exists for coral and the sea life that depends of this ecosystem for its survival. The movie is available to stream on Netflix and the trailer is available on YouTube. The group highly recommends everyone take the time to watch this important and visually exquisite documentary.
Chasing Coral
