Chasing Coral Film Analysis

Hope Elize A. Due CHEM 1 J #17

Chasing Coral

Chasing Coral is a Netflix documentary film chronicling the lives of corals for over two months using manual timelapses every single day. The team behind this decided to document the coral reefs found in Lizard Island and New Caledonia after failing to get good images in Hawaii and the Great Barrier Reef. The whole documentary centered on the death of coral reefs due to the warm temperatures of the oceans brought about by climate change. One of the greatest factors of warm oceans is the greenhouse gases transferred in the ocean which includes carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, which humans emit in the atmosphere, has the capacity to trap heat and 93% of this goes to the oceans.

Their flesh gradually becomes clear and their white skeleton becomes visible. Moreover, their whole body would be covered by fuzzy microalgae. Second, some corals in New Caledonia were found fluorescing with vivid colors. This is in fact a chemical sunscreen they secrete in order to protect themselves from the heat they are experiencing. In a way, their brilliance can be a tool for people to notice them and their current situation or as what one scientist said in the film, it is an “incredible and beautiful face of death”. Another point explicitly stated in the film was that corals didn’t really have a life expectancy. However, because of climate change, they die early. It was discovered that some corals were turning white after six months which is definitely fatal to our planet because we may witness the eradication of an entire ecosystem in our lifespan as said by Doctor Ruth Gates. In addition to this, there is a big heat wave travelling near the planet which leaves dead corals in its trail and in 25 years, all of the world’s corals wouldn’t be able to keep up with this heat and they will all eventually

These are conflict, poverty, instability, migration, unrest, collapse, capacity, and dependency. This film serves as a wakeup call to the audience because climate change is a very critical problem that people should address as soon as possible. It also explicitly shows that climate change is in fact in our midst and is not just a myth or a theory as some would say. The whole documentary tackled consequences which also have consequences. This in turn somehow forms a chain reaction of consequences which are also interrelated. As a result of these, climate change is considered as an accelerant to instability and a catalyst for conflict. Climate change impacts the basic resources needed by nations to continue and for humans to survive and continue on with their lives. For this reason, civil unrest occurs and wars happen. Militant groups and radicals such as ISIS control and secure their access to what is left of these resources like water so as for people to join their cause. There are also uprisings all over the world where protesters demand food due to starvation from lack of food which resulted from drought and food price increases which affects the global market significantly. Moreover, poverty is also a result of