Titouan Bernicot spent his entire childhood surrounded by the ocean, as he grew up, he realized that his haven, his sanctuary was under attack and that is how he came up with the idea of coral gardeners. He wanted to save his home.
As soon as he launched coral gardeners the support, he received was immense. He has an emotional attachment with the ocean. For him it’s his safe harbor and place. He reached out to the ocean when it was dying and screaming for help. According to him we sustain life from the ocean so it is our job to protect it as well. Today he uses social media and influencers around the world to help protect and rebuild the reefs. It’s like taking baby steps. One coral at a time!
He was too driven and concerned when back in 2015 he went surfing and realized the corals had turned white and a couple of days later they died down. He was in deep agony and shock and after a thorough research he got to know that it’s the climate change and global warming causing this issue. That is when he started Coral Gardeners so that he could save the reefs.
For him this project not only helps him reconnect with the ocean but helps him feel calm and stay content. It’s like meditation. The capitalist world we live in focuses more on consumption and accumulating materials than sustainability. We have failed to realize that if we don’t save the world now, the world will not save us and we all might perish together, sooner than intended. We can’t just take from and exploit mother nature hoping nothing would happen. No world is better without reefs, corals and clean oceans. It’s like taking away a human’s heart, lungs and other vital organs hoping it would function and stay alive.
Covid-19 had a positive impact on our lives but if we all haven’t realized that and not gained a fresh perspective on our lifestyle than we truly deserved this! This was mother nature taking a break from us. Titouan was asked that why people ignored the harm they did to the ocean to which he responded that people often lack that deeper connection to the ocean which doesn’t make them realize how important water bodies are and the quicker we preserve and help them the better. He also stated that people don’t know how to extend their support and help. In order to do that it’s important for them to understand the how grave the situation is, a picture needs to be kept in front of them of a world without ocean, corals and reefs.
Titouan is playing his part through Coral Gardeners. It’s a great initiative. He is not only raising awareness via social media but also showing how beautiful the ocean life is. He wants people to adopt a coral reef because when they do that, they will understand and develop a connection. treating it like a baby!
He is on a journey of creating a new membership program as stated in the oceanographic interview. He thinks it would allow people around the world to support them and offer their expertise. New ideas and advices would be poured in that would help them to further their agenda and find newer solutions.
Currently they are trying to improve their techniques of saving the reefs. So far, he states that cementing is an effective and productive. It is helping and providing favorable conditions for the corals to grow and blossom. For him Coral Gardeners is like a community. He says it is like a global community and we are trying our best to move towards sustainable living. Coral Gardeners are playing their part in every way possible and we can learn from each other and them. We should not only help them but adopt such an initiative as well. When we join hands and help that is when bigger things happen!
