WSL To Raise Awareness Of ‘Climate Crisis’ By Changing Colours Of Competition Jersey’s
The World Surf League (WSL) has declared its support for coral reef conservation by announcing a collaboration with ‘Glowing Glowing Gone’, a global campaign highlighting the danger signalled by fluorescing corals.
The campaign is focused on raising awareness around the crisis facing coral reefs while taking action in French Polynesia to support local projects to restore the habitats.
The partnership will see the Tahiti Pro Teahupoo event be re-branded to incorporate the exact colours of fluorescing corals after campaign partners Adobe and Pantone created a customised range of “Glowing” by using imagery taken by The Ocean Agency in New Caledonia.
The three colors, Glowing Yellow, Glowing Blue, and Glowing Purple, will be incorporated into all event branding, including the competition jerseys, which will deviate from standardized colors for the first time ever.
“We’re excited to both raise awareness for the plight of coral reefs around the world as well as support real impact in French Polynesia,”Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of the WSL said.
“The Glowing Glowing Gone campaign draws attention to the cause and global solutions, while the Coral Gardeners are making a positive difference in the restoration of the nearby reefs, and the WSL is proud to partner with both organizations.”
The Glowing campaign is a joint initiative between The Ocean Agency and UN Environment and includes some of the world’s largest conservation organizations with the event also being backed by Tahiti Pro partners Hurley, Jeep, Corona, and Red Bull.
“The future of the world’s coral reefs hangs in the balance, threatening both marine life and hundreds of millions of people who rely on them for food, livelihoods and coastal protection,” UN Environment coral reef expert, Gabriel Grimsditch, said.
“By supporting the Glowing campaign, the World Surf League is leading the way in helping to sharpen global attention to the crisis facing corals.”
In 2016, a team from The Ocean Agency photographed one of the most spectacular and rarest sights in nature while filming the Netflix Original Documentary Chasing Coral.
A coral reef situated in New Caledonia was “glowing” in incredibly rare vivid colours due to an underwater heatwave.
The corals were producing brightly coloured chemicals that act as sunscreen in a desperate bid to survive the fatally high water temperatures.
This glowing coral phenomenon, called fluorescing, is one of the most visual indicators of the climate crisis and the existential threat to entire ecosystems such as coral reefs.
However, until now, it has gone largely unnoticed.
