A recent article we published about the reality of coral bleaching in Hawaii had an unexpected ripple effect.
If you have ever picked up flat stones and skimmed them across the water, you too have experienced the ripple effect. When the stone touches the surface, concentric circles are created and ripple forms – with larger and larger rings.
As 2019 comes to an end, this ripple effect carried an important ocean advocacy lesson in coral bleaching across two big ponds; and I truly believe our community of manta ray advocates can continue to make a big difference – even when we don’t know how the first circle will affect others.
A Lesson in Coral Bleaching Reaches a Local German Newspaper
So after our article on coral bleaching in Hawaii was published, it was then emailed to all subscribers including Hannah Florian in Wuppertal, Germany. Hannah is an editor at the local newspaper and to our total delight, my mom emailed me this picture two days later.
In just 24 hours the blog had been translated, printed and reached ~200,000 readers in my hometown. Pretty cool, but that’s not all! 🙂
A Lesson in Coral Bleaching Reaches Junior Science Cafe
About 4 weeks later, Luise reached out to us. She is a high school student at St. Anna Schule in Wuppertal who had read the article.
Luise and her classmates were planning a Junior Science Cafe and their next main topic to discuss with students, teachers and parents was “rising ocean temperatures and coral bleaching”.
Luise was wondering if I would be available to Skype into the science cafe and after only a few emails overcoming technical and timing questions, I joined the German students in their classroom discussing the on-location experience.
One student summed it up that my short appearance was driving the message further for all those attended – (*cue a happy dance ????????*).
(If interested, here is the Coral Bleaching article they wrote for the school’s website.)
A Lesson in Coral Bleaching – Making Ripples
Honestly, it often takes hours to compose a blog post about something you care deeply about – and you wonder if it’s worth the time. But when you realize the impact the first ripple can have, it motivates and inspires you to keep going.
Ocean Advocacy matters more than ever, so please feel encouraged to keep moving forward and be a voice for the voiceless.
Aloha
Martina
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