Last Wednesday, we welcomed Professor Harvel as our Becker-Rose Cafe guest. She screened David Brown’s film, “Fragile Legacy”, a documentary about the sustainability of marine ecosystems. Professor Harvell has worked on coral reefs in the Mexican Yucatan, Florida Keys, Hawaii, and Indonesia. The film showed how glass makers attempt to capture the majestic beauty of the sea creatures. Glass makers produce thousands of glass models for museums and teaching models and these models capture a diverse array of species, from sponges, jelly fish, corals, mollusks, sea slugs to starfish.

Previously I had noticed but the wonderful biodiversity and beauty of these creatures but had not thought much more of it. According to the documentary, the wonderful biodiversity is often passed over unappreciated, and we will never ever have the opportunity to admire their beauty and central role in in the ecosystem before they are gone unless we take action on climate change. The coral reefs are central to maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Overfishing and costal development has had a negative impact on coral reef ecosystems. Increasing pollution and carbon dioxide content has triggered an extinction crisis. These are all events that I am well aware of, but this documentary has shown even farther reaching implications to consider. It shows how climate change touches every living organism on the planet, every ecosystem and every habitat. The documentary has made me more aware and appreciative of our species rich coral reefs and environmental/conservation challenges.