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By Hannah Halusker<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div> ON WEEKDAY MORNINGS IN FEBRUARY 2019,\u00a0\u00a0Something Very Fishy<\/em><\/span> occurred at the Pickens Performing Arts Center. THE RAINFORESTS OF THE OCEAN<\/strong> CHASING CORAL<\/strong>
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\nThe stage featured an underwater scene of the ocean floor, complete with a colorful display of corals and deep-sea rocks, where two puppets \u2014 Octavia the Octopus and Boss the Great White Shark \u2014 were being operated by human actors. A blue glow emanated into the audience, highlighting an auditorium full of awestruck elementary schoolers and the teachers and chaperones who brought them.
\nThen the lighting transitioned. The underwater scene turned yellow, and Octavia and Boss began to despair. A reckless fisherman had left barrels of oil and gas near his boat, and an overnight storm had knocked them into the ocean. Earlier, the same fisherman forgot to clean up his supplies, and a young seal in the reef, Sunny, had mistaken a fishing hook for a treat and was rushed to a local marine hospital. A heat wave engulfed Boss and Octavia, and they began to scramble, searching for colder, more comfortable water amid their destructed habitat that was now littered with trash.
\n\u201cPeople are the ones who got us into this mess in the first place. How will they ever know that we need help to get out of it?\u201d Octavia cried.
\nA few scenes later, Sandy, a marine biologist, entered center stage. She sat down with the fisherman, and after a bit of scolding, she broke into song to educate him on the small changes he could make to be more protective of the environment.
\n\u201cReduce is the first step \u2014 remember to use less. Say no to plastic bags when you\u2019re in the store. Instead, use fabric ones; they fit so much more!\u201d Sandy sings. \u201cReuse is the second step \u2014 use the same thing again. Separate your trash, recycle it \u2014 turn it into something new.\u201d
\nCreated by a team of scientists, artists, and students from Educational Entertainment LLC and Clemson University, the show was part of an innovative outreach program that exemplifies the best of what can happen when science and art collide.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nIF THE EARTH WERE A BODY SYSTEM, the ocean would be our most vital organ. The deep, salty sea occupies 70 percent of the planet\u2019s surface and is the leading regulator of our climate, weather patterns, and the oxygen that we breathe. Daily temperatures and wind speeds are the result of constantly rotating ocean currents, and rainfall is the result of the ocean in evaporation.
\nBeneath the surface, the ocean is home to hundreds of thousands of living species \u2014 and potentially millions more that haven\u2019t been discovered yet, given that only 5 percent of the ocean has been explored.
\nIn their assortment of stunning colors and shapes, corals are one of the most biologically important species residing in the ocean, their reefs serving as the primary habitat for nearly a quarter of marine life. With an economic impact\u00a0estimated at $30 billion annually, corals are also important to humans across the globe who turn to reefs for food, fisheries and tourism.
\nBut humans are also impacting coral reefs in devastating ways. Fishing practices, such as overfishing, are causing irreparable damage to these marine invertebrates. Industrial activities \u2014 from the burning of coal and oil, to the clearing of land for new developments, and the discarding of toxic waste into waterways \u2014 are contributing to Earth\u2019s changing climate, which is directly acidifying the ocean environment.
\nAs temperatures rise, corals eject their zooxanthellae, the algae they rely on for nutrients. Without zooxanthellae, corals lose their vibrant colors and eventually die off in a process known as coral bleaching. In 2016 \u2014 one year alone \u2014 an unprecedented bleaching event killed half of the coral belonging to the famous Great Barrier Reef of Australia. The event was part of a broader decline in reef populations that has been occurring over the past three decades.
\nAt a climactic point in the future of Earth\u2019s well-being, it will take more than a coalition of concerned scientists to curb the effects of our warming planet. But that coalition is best equipped to share precisely why humans should care, and need to care, about where Earth is headed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nMichael Childress, an associate professor of biological sciences at Clemson University, is more than familiar with the corals and marine life that reside undersea in the Florida Keys.
\nFor the past eight years, Childress and graduate students Kylie Smith and Kara Noonan have been studying how the changing ocean environments \u2014 including warming temperatures, hurricane disturbance, and emergent diseases \u2014 impact coral health and reef fish behaviors. Each summer, they set out to sea in the waters of the Florida Keys, diving deep below the surface to transplant corals, test water quality and study how habitat loss is otherwise affecting reef animal behaviors.
\nFor members of the Childress Lab, their work is in part driven by a desire to share the importance of marine ecosystems with the next generation of \u201cstewards of the earth.\u201d Childress has 25 years of experience in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in the methods of experimental field ecology, and Smith and Noonan have taken the baton, directing a team of undergraduate students in the Keys in studies that support their graduate research.
\nTheir engagement stretches from the Atlantic coast back to Clemson, where they actively work to get the local community invested in matters affecting the ocean. When Hurricane Irma decimated homes and businesses along the Florida coast in August 2017, the Childress Lab gathered donations of basic necessities and delivered them to those Floridians in need. The following spring, the team hosted multiple public showings of the Netflix documentary Chasing Coral<\/em><\/span>, which illustrates the plight of coral decline across the world. Yet, taking their message to an audience of children was met with looming questions of \u201cHow?\u201d and \u201cIn what way?\u201d
\n\u201cWorking with schools is something we\u2019ve always wanted to do, but we\u2019ve never had the right resources to do it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIf you get to kids early enough, you can educate them about how important these habitats are and help them understand that they can make a difference no matter how far they are from the ocean.\u201d
\nIt was at a Chasing Coral<\/em><\/span> showing, held at the Clemson University Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Spring 2018, where Smith met a creative artist from the \u201cland down under,\u201d who had the know-how to take the team\u2019s outreach to the next level.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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