A detail of the artificial reef. Do you want to see how the whole new reef looks like? Come and join us on Coral Day.

Look here for an impression of Coral Day 2017

The post Coral Day 2018 appeared first on CoralGardening.

For example, SummerLabb offered its visitors a look into the sustainable future. The visitors got an interesting story about platic soup and how you can reduce your own plastic footprint yourself. They showed a washing bag to collect your plastic and nylon microfibers, which are released during washing clothes. There was also a solution for lead-free fishing and how to create your own garden to absorb more rainwater to be prepared for changing weather.

Several coral experts were present and also companies involved in the cultivation of seaweed. Former TV and radio presenter Jan Douwe Kroeske interviewed Vera Aarden about CoralGardening’s vision on the future of coral reefs.

There was a show of mermaids and the world record “blowing rings” was improved by freediver Jorrit Bruinsma. He could blow 71 rings in 2 minutes 18, on one breath. The whole record attempt with video and the comments of Vera can be seen here.

Children had a lot of fun at our stand with the workshop CoralGardening. This time it was possible to make the designs for houses for fish in color. After creating their statues with clay, they could paint them in the desired colors. This makes them even more beautiful after they return to them after baking.

Furthermore Marcel Coret from Diving School KevMic-Diving came to our booth to hand over our regulators after a thorough service. Marcel, thank you so much for the good and fast service! Several companies offered to sponsor CoralGardening with materials, but more about that later.

Thank you very much for your visit, interest and donations!

An impression of the Duikvaker, made by Bas:

The post Interesting activities at Duikvaker 2018 appeared first on CoralGardening.

With the Koh Tao festival in sight, Save Koh Tao organizes an extra large clean-up. A lot of diving schools and restaurants are involved, and even the Thai Navy has 300 cadets joining the party. An incredible amount of waste and dirt gets cleaned up. Such a clean-up gives you a huge amount of satisfaction. It’s a good feeling to see a beautifully clean beach, but it still takes a lot of energy to keep it that way.

What can we do differently?

As long as we keep producing waste, it will end up in nature in one way or another and we keep cleaning it up. It’s time to take the next step. By stopping our one-time use of certain plastic products, we also stop producing waste. It all comes down to the principle, “Be the change you want to see” or “be the change you want to see in the world”. This was the focus on Earth Day last weekend. There are several organizations that take the lead on the island, like restaurants that do not give plastic straws but instead a bamboo or stainless steel variant. Various groups are actively lobbying to ban straws Koh Tao-wide. Ways of making Koh Tao free of plastic bags are also considered. The use of plastic small half liter bottles is addressed by selling refillable Trash Hero bottles. Buy 1 stainless steel bottle and you can refill it for free at any bottle outlet. Many organizations will sign a commitment to release their company single-use plastic, and so inspire others to do the same on Earth Day.

Participating in Earth Day and in the lottery we raise money to set up a recycling system and ensure that the waste is properly separated and transported to the mainland. And also to replace the plastic with non-plastic alternatives on Koh Tao.

We have a dream … ..

How nice would it be if Koh Tao were to become the first island in the world free from single-use plastics. If you support this action than sign this petition.

Stop pollution, join the solution!

The post Emptying the ocean with a plastic thimble appeared first on CoralGardening.

Under certain circumstances coral polyps get stressed. For example when water temperatures rise.

To “relax”, corals discard what they “think” causes their problems: their zooxanthellae. But doing that, corals not only lose an important partner in symbiosis and food source, but also all pigments that give the zoox (and with them, the coral) their colour. What remains is just the bare, white skeleton and the transparent coral polyps. This is what you will recognize as a bleached coral. Corals cannot recover from this discarding in all cases.

CoralGardening works on providing corals a healthy and stable environment to thrive in. And we can use your help.

The post Did you know? Coral bleaching appeared first on CoralGardening.

I mostly help CoralGardening by providing information at events and by occasionally giving lectures about Coral Gardening. I like to involve ‘the next generation’ in ocean protection. For example, together with other students, I organized a charity concert for other students of Wageningen University in the benefit of CoralGardening and we raised awareness and 1600 euros.

Besides this, I like to be on the water and look for and participate in the counting of whales. I am probably the only one of the Coral Gardening team that does not dive but fortunately you can see a lot of beautiful things under water by snorkelling! That always keeps on inspiring me.
There is still a lot of work to do concerning nature conservation but with enough initiatives such as Coral Gardening, I have faith that we can make the world a better place, and I’d like to continue to strive for that!

Do you want to put your talents to good use? Get in contact through our contact form.

The post Volunteer in the spotlights: Esmee appeared first on CoralGardening.

Everybody worked as hard as they could and at the end of the week we were finally ready to put our CoralFlower in the ocean. That was a whole project by itself! Chad got the official approval for the planting site, and afterwards it was a matter of acting quickly. Get Invovled came to the rescue and within two days we arranged a boat and enough volunteers to assist us. Launch day was November 17th.

We practice the mounting of the flower on land, so everybody knows exactly what to do. It was a great way to discover some possibilities for improvement. We loaded the flower on a boat and took off for the Hin Wong bay after this rehearsal.

We are also working on a video of this planting. Youtube already hosts a short impression of the building of the flower. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and be the first to witness the launching video!

To EVERYbody: thank you so much!!!

Want to join us in reef building?
Support CoralGardening.

The post First flower in the water appeared first on CoralGardening.

Important thing is to be more aware of what you do and what impact this has on the climate. One of the simplest solutions is to start a more plant-based diet as the meat industry significantly contributes to climate change. If this is a bridge to far for you, start by replacin steak with chicken. That already makes a huge difference in greenhouse gas emissions, destruction of rain forests and water use.

What is also encouraging is that Tesla is building a huge factory for the production of solar panels and batteries. If we build 100 of these plants worldwide, we can realise the renewable energy world.

Even more interesting are the reactions on this documentary. Leonardo’s life style is not what you might call environmentally preferable. He is also known to have had business with a Malaysian businessman, while Malaysia burns much flat growth forests to create palm oil plantations. Even Al Gore came to be personally attacked when his film The Inconvenient Truth was released. The same happened to the scientists from IPCC after the publication of their report on na Climate Change.

It is quite strange that this kind of accusations happen and that you often hear threats directed at advocates for a healthy environment. But have you ever heard about the lifestyle of Senator James Inhofe, the man who showed the US Senate a snowball to prove there could be no global warming because there was still snow outside? Or about the dubious business deals of one of the many other climate deniers? In short, “shooting the messenger” is easier than dealing with the real problem.

Watch this movie freely, form your own opinion and find out how you can participate for a better environment. We regularly share tips and methods to live more environmentally friendly on our social media. Sometimes it is in the small and easy things, but every now and then you have to consider stepping out of your comfort zone.

Good luck with your positive changes! We wish you a healthy future!

The post Before the Flood appeared first on CoralGardening.

Like always we have some special activities planned for future divers. Besides playing games you can also give your input for the design of our next CoralGarden!

Duikvaker will be held on the 4th and 5th of February 2017in Houten (close to Utrecht, The Netherlands). Check this website for more info on Duikvaker 2017.

The post Duikvaker 2017 appeared first on CoralGardening.

Do you like to inform people about CoralGardening on events (movies, congresses or other casual meetings)? Whether alone or with another volunteer, we can offer you many possibilities.

We are also looking for someone interested in maintaining and updating our website. If you have ideas on how to make it look prettier or more easily accessible, feel free to give us suggestions and help us realise them. If you have experience in setting up webshops, we surely would like to get in closer contact with you, so we can distribute our handmade jewellery and Ocean Sole sea creatures more easily.

You can contact us through this form.

The post Volunteer in the spotlights: You? appeared first on CoralGardening.

Our CoralGardening team members cannot wait to (not always physically) bring you to the building site for the CoralGarden on Koh Tao to tell you about our work. Check this site for an impression of our presentations.

Getting a bit warmer already? Gather your friends, colleageus, co-students and sports team and we will gladly pay you a visit. You can contact us via our website.

We will discuss your wishes and preferred themes with you so we can organize a custom presentation for you.

We hope to see you soon,

Team CoralGardening.

The post Winter is coming appeared first on CoralGardening.