Team Earth’s Movie Week is highlighting classic and/or notable environmental films in preparation for Earth Day. Here, we talk about “Oceans” – which opens today – and our partnership with the Save My Oceans campaign.
(You can watch the Oceans trailer here.)
Planet Earth. Winged Migration. March of the Penguins.
Nature programs, all, but anyone who’s seen them knows that they ain’t your daddy’s seventh-grade earth science videos. They’re part, instead, of one of the great new traditions that’s sprung out of the public’s growing environmental awareness – a new wave of beautiful nature movies that say, “Hey, isn’t this awesome?” You don’t need to be a tree-hugger to marvel at these films. They’re just cool.
Recently, Disney – which, in many ways, pioneered the general-audience nature documentary in the Fifties with its “True-Life Adventures” series – has gotten back into the game.
Earth came out last year to acclaim. Now, today, Oceans comes out, and the critics agree: It’s cool. There are 80 species of ocean life in the movie, filmed in dozens of locales around the world – from tiny plankton and giant sharks to cuddly penguins and shrieking seagulls. (Seriously, who doesn’t love penguins?)
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. As part of the campaign for the movie, Disney and its partner, Participant Media, are trying to raise awareness of the serious threats our oceans face through the Save My Oceans campaign.
For the oceans, plastic pollution, overfishing and endangered coral reefs are all major troubles. Even climate change hurts the seas. Greenhouse gas emissions make the oceans both warmer and more acidic, potentially hurting millions of species. Melting glaciers will lead to rising sea levels – threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people worldwide who live by the coast.
That’s why, in conjunction with Oceans, you can take a pledge and take action to protect our marine ecosystems. It’s not all that different than what we’re doing here, really, which is why we’re a partner of the Save My Oceans campaign. Ocean pollution is a big challenge, but if enough of us take action, we can fight it.
