SOCAN at the Ashland July 4th Festivities

The gathering of the parade marchers

The SOCAN contingent is ready to depart

A delegation of some 30 SOCANistas marched in the parade and or staffed the booth in Lithia Plaza where we entertained 260 visitors and garnered 27 new email friends.

The parade them was the effect of ocean warming on coral where just a two degree F increase for four weeks can induce bleaching (when the colorful algal zooxanthellae are expelled) and longer may simply kill the coral.

Image from the movie “Chasing Coral” that depicts with stunning clarity what is happening to our corals globally because of global warming in our oceans.

Coral represent the canary (in the coalmine) off our coasts.  Just as canaries can warn miners about air quality problems  by dying, so coral warns us about the global warming impacts on our oceans.  Coral reefs are the nurseries to some 25% of all marine fish species, serve to tamp down the impacts of storm surge on coastal communities, offer a tremendous tourist economic boon, and are critical in te cultures of many coastal indigenous peoples.  So go the corals, maybe so go we, and idea reflected in our parade motto: “What lies below reveals what lies ahead.”