Google Ocean

Chasing Coral (2017)

Google Earth allows people to zoom into anywhere in the world, from your own home to the Sahara Desert, the Amazon Rainforest to the surface of the Indian Ocean. These images are taken by satellite aerial photography showing the entire surface of the planet. Chasing Coral attempts to document what is under the ocean surface to show people the underwater world that is changing at a rapid pace due to anthropogenic climate change and global warming. The campaigning documentary reveals the coral bleaching, explains the internal structure of coral and the effects the rise in ocean temperatures has upon the underwater ecosystem. The comparative images, documenting the reef over a few years, starkly contrast the vibrant healthy coral with the remainders of skeletal structures. This honest account of the coral reef depletion as an underappreciated threat is approached as an advertising problem; an increase in publicity and awareness of the fragile and endangered ecosystem could help to slow the rate of destruction.

‘It’s one of the rarest events in nature happening and everyone’s just oblivious to it. And you can’t blame them for it, it’s just almost typical of all humanity.’