[Southern California Permaculture] Beautiful Coral Reefs/Visual Art & Social Action/in Danger of Extinction "Should we Care? Hell yeah!"

Sat Nov 19 10:55:46 PST 2016

At the recent Bioneers conference there was a 
focus on Coral Reefs.   Fragility of coral reefs, 
they are dying at unprecedented rates, all around 
the world, one of the most important ecosystems, 
support our food systems we rely on from the sea. they are so beautiful!

" A healthy reef is a riot of color and sound: a 
key habitat, nurturing and sustaining the ocean’s 
web of life, protecting and providing for 
hundreds of millions of people on coasts and 
islands around the globe. Should we care? Hell yeah!" artist Louis Masai

Coral Reef Redux- watch on Vimeo:  https://vimeo.com/171567623
A Synchronicity Earth collaboration with Louis 
Masai (artist) and Bernie Krause (soundscape 
ecologist). Visual Art & Social Action

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<http://conference.bioneers.org/registration/>
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Coral Reefs Extinction: Thinking local, acting global

<http://www.synchronicityearth.org/blog/author/20>Jim Pettiward
26 October 2016

Synchronicity Earth friend and fellow 
species-lover, Louis Masai, is currently painting 
his way across the USA drawing attention to the 
extinction crisis with his 
<http://louismasai.com/projects/the-art-of-beeing/>Art 
of Beeing tour. He also dropped into the 
<http://conference.bioneers.org/>Bioneers 
conference in San Rafael, California, spoke at a 
session entitled ‘Visual art and social action,’ 
presented two short films - made in conjunction 
with Synchronicity Earth - and ran a hands-on 
workshop creating ‘bee hotels’ and wild seed balls!

In common with Synchronicity Earth, whether it’s 
a coral reef or a Cottontail rabbit, at the heart 
of Louis' work is a desire to protect and restore 
nature’s diversity where it is threatened or has been lost.

Extinction is often seen as something happening 
somewhere else, in tropical rainforests or coral 
reefs, rather than on our own doorstep.

Louis wants to bring the extinction crisis into 
sharper focus. The world is losing unique species 
and habitats at a rate unprecedented in human 
history. Diversity is being replaced by 
uniformity. The variety of animals, plants and 
fungi - and the connections between them that 
make up the earth’s ecosystems - is facing a 
multitude of threats. Earth’s diversity, and the 
species interactions that support ecosystem 
functions, is fading, due to local and global 
pressures – ranging from deforestation through to climate change.

Raising awareness of the ‘not just global, but 
local’ nature of the extinction crisis, Louis’ 
tour will take in 12 cities; he will paint around 
20 murals, each one depicting a species under 
threat in the US. Much of the biodiversity in 
OECD countries has already been lost. In fact, 
the UK and US both rank very low in terms of 
their ability to maintain their own biodiversity intact,

according to 
the<https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/whatwedo/stateofnature2016> 
2016 State of Nature Report:

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Louis’ work is intended to remind us that we are 
all connected to and nurtured by the earth’s 
biodiversity and we can all play a part in 
protecting it. His latest paintings depict some 
of the most vulnerable US species as toys, 
because “if we don’t act now to stop extinction, only toys will remain.”

The Art of Beeing isn't the first time Louis has 
painted endangered species. Back in 2014, he 
painted a series of murals depicting endangered 
UK species on walls across the capital. 
<https://vimeo.com/129900424>A film capturing our 
joint This is Now projectshows how people reacted 
to his paintings: the appearance of a beautiful 
species in an unexpected place at an unexpected 
time can stop people in their tracks, giving them pause for thought.

This is Now: 56% of UK species have declined 
since 1970 
(<https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/whatwedo/stateofnature2016>State 
of Nature Report, 2016)

Then, in 2015, the focus shifted to coral reefs. 
The giant mural began to appear on a building in 
east London. Not a locally-endangered species 
this time. In fact, the protagonist of this piece 
couldn't be further from the nature on our doorsteps.

Louis’ giant coral reef mural begged the 
question: Why should we, living in an urban 
metropolis, care about the fate of a distant 
coral reef on the other side of the world? What 
are corals anyway? Plants? Rock? Who cares?

A coral reef comes to life in the heart of London

But coral reefs are in trouble. It may be too 
soon to write an 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scientists-take-on-great-barrier-reef-obituary_us_57fff8f1e4b0162c043b068f>obituary 
for coral reefs, but there is no doubt that they 
are being degraded and dying out, both from 
direct local pressures, such as over fishing, 
pollution and development, and from warmer and 
more acidic oceans resulting from climate change. 
They are to some extent a bellwether for other 
species and habitats, their current plight a 
clear sign of what is to come if we don't act.

Coral reefs are home to a psychedelic array of 
species, they are nurseries, playgrounds and love 
nests for countless types of fish, molluscs, 
crustaceans, sponges and other things many people have never heard of.

Larger ocean travellers – sharks, rays, turtles, 
dugongs – rely on them as their ‘service 
stations’ to stop by for a feed and a clean. 
Corals themselves engage in mass spawning events 
when the moonlight gets them in the mood.

A healthy reef is a riot of color and sound: a 
key habitat, nurturing and sustaining the ocean’s 
web of life, protecting and providing for 
hundreds of millions of people on coasts and 
islands around the globe. Should we care? Hell yeah!

Santa Babara Permaculture Network Logo

(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie at sbpermaculture.org
http://www.sbpermaculture.org

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