In response to the current major global coral-bleaching event, London-based environmental media company Earthrise is running a campaign fronted by Avatar actor Bailey Bass to raise money and awareness for the restoration work of South Pacific-based organisation Coral Gardeners.
Coral Gardeners was founded seven years ago by then-18-year-old Titouan Bernicot. He had grown up in Moorea, French Polynesia, surrounded by coral reefs and was horrified to see them starting to bleach.
The organisation has grown into a team of 60 operating in Fiji and Thailand as well as French Polynesia and has so far replanted more than 100,000 corals. It offers donors the chance to “adopt a coral”.
Having in the past won support from movie star Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and photo-conservationist Cristina Mittermeier, this time US actor Bailey Bass, who plays freediver Tsireya in Avatar: The Way Of Water and Claudia in TV series Interview With The Vampire, is taking the lead.
The campaign was launched last week on World Oceans Day (8 June), with Bass joined in Tahiti by the Earthrise multimedia storytelling team, led by film-maker and CEO Alice Aedy, throughout the month. The initiative is being featured on social and digital platforms, culminating in the release of a short film.
“I am delighted to be collaborating with Earthrise and Coral Gardeners to help raise awareness not only of the huge impact of coral-bleaching, but also of the incredible group of people working day and night to save a vital ecosystem from the brink of collapse,” said Bass.
“During these unprecedented times, Coral Gardeners’ team is monitoring the corals to better understand their responses and resiliency, because some corals are surviving these extreme conditions,” pointed out Bernicot. “They are not giving up, and we won’t either.
“Our restoration method focuses on identifying the more resistant corals to selectively propagate these varieties to make the reefs more resilient and help them adapt to their changing environment and the impacts of climate change.
“At the same time, we need to raise awareness and bring the world’s attention below the surface, where the biggest underwater wildfire is happening. That’s why we are grateful to be teaming up with the incredible team of Earthrise and Bailey Bass to reach the masses and create a global movement to preserve coral reefs.”
“More than 60% of the world’s corals are being triggered to bleach and break apart due to heat-stress,” commented Aedy. “While whitened corals may appear visually striking, they are actually severely ill, threatening the ecosystems that depend on them.
“Although humanity is to blame for this unfolding disaster, the good news is that we’re also leading the fight to breathe life back into the corals and avert this catastrophe.
“With half of our ocean metaphorically on fire, there has never been a more urgent time to support the work of incredible organisations like Coral Gardeners.”
Earthrise says that since it began in 2020 it has built a following of more than 4 million people and worked with the likes of Stella McCartney, David Attenborough, Jane Goodall and Barack Obama.
There is a dedicated page for anyone who would like to support the campaign.
Avatar star shots showing in Sweden
Also linking Avatar with global conservation is US photographer Christy Lee Rogers’ installation of a selection of her Muses Of Avatar artworks at Pater Noster, a hotel on a remote western Swedish lighthouse island. Made using recycled materials, the photographs can be seen at the dock where boats land until 29 September.
Commissioned by Avatar writer-director James Cameron and the Disney studio, Rogers’s photographs of the blockbuster’s stars Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Kate Winslet are being sold to raise funds for charity The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
The artworks were created in Rogers’ unique style, with the actors shot while under water from above the surface so that refracted light evokes the feel of a painting, as previously featured in a profile of the photographer on Divernet.
Disney and Avatar are running a “Keep Our Oceans Amazing” global campaign to raise awareness of the challenges facing oceans and marine life, and 100% of net proceeds from the art sales are set to go to TNC.
Pater Noster has a mission to help preserve the oceans through a series of initiatives, but if visiting the island doesn’t fit your travel plans the works can be seen and purchased more easily through Fraser Scott at A Gallery Artists or via Rogers’ website.
Also on Divernet: AVATAR 2: HOW TO RISK-MANAGE 200,000 DIVES!, $10M+ AVATAR-STAR PHOTOS DEDICATED TO OCEAN PROTECTION, UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHER WHO DOESN’T GET WET, PADI’S 4 REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL IN 2024
