See full version: Company that grows coral and puts back into ocean
About Mars, Incorporated
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us.
About Mars Petcare
Part of Mars, Incorporated, a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love, the 85,000 Associates across 50+ countries in Mars Petcare are dedicated to one purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS™. With 85 years of experience, our portfolio of almost 50 brands serves the health and nutrition needs of the world's pets – including brands PEDIGREE ® , WHISKAS ® , ROYAL CANIN ® , NUTRO™, GREENIES™, SHEBA ® , CESAR ® , IAMS™ and EUKANUBA™ as well as the Waltham Petcare Science Institute which has advanced research in the nutrition and health of pets for over 50 years. Mars Petcare is also a leading veterinary health provider through an international network of over 2,000 pet hospitals and diagnostic services including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™, Linnaeus, AniCura and Antech. We're also active in innovation and technology for pets, with WISDOM PANEL™ genetic health screening and DNA testing for dogs, the WHISTLE™ GPS dog tracker, and LEAP VENTURE STUDIO accelerator and COMPANION FUND programs that drive innovation and disruption in the pet care industry. As a family business and guided by our principles, we are privileged with the flexibility to fight for what we believe in – and we choose to fight for: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS. here
To rally support for the program, the SHEBA brand is excited to partner with Walsh, an animal lover and long-time advocate for ocean and marine life, and her cat Pablo, to inspire pet parents to take action and grow hope. Feline-loving fans can join the movement and experience the Hope Reef from home via a first-of-its-kind YouTube Channel. With every view of "The Film That Grows Coral" and other videos on the channel, the advertising money generated is invested back into coral reef regeneration through campaign partner, The Nature Conservancy. This is the first time ever that 100% of the funds from a branded YouTube channel have been reinvested to support sustainability efforts. [links]
Hope Reef furthers years of work done by the parent company of the SHEBA brand, Mars, Incorporated, to ensure the future has fish. Since 2008, Mars, has invested more than $10m in research, builds, and community engagement as part of its coral restoration program. More than 285,000 coral fragments have already been planted and 19,000 reef stars have been installed, all using locally sourced materials.
FRANKLIN, Tenn. , May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the SHEBA® brand revealed Hope Reef, the start of the world's largest coral reef restoration program to preserve and restore the beauty in our oceans. To support the announcement, the SHEBA team has partnered with activist, actress and entrepreneur, Kate Walsh , and her cat Pablo, to help grow hope. By the end of 2029, the program plans to restore coral reefs the size of nearly 150 Olympic Swimming Pools through its full coral restoration project.
As one of the leading cat food brands, SHEBA hopes to play the role of a catalyst, helping to ensure the future has coral reefs and fish. Hope Reef, located off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia , in the Spermonde Archipelago, was built to visibly spell out the word 'H-O-P-E' from the seabed using restored coral to show the power of positive change, and spark action from others. The reef – which can be seen on Google Earth – was kicked off in 2019 and has already increased in coral cover from 5 to 55%, resulting in an abundance of fish and the return of species such as sharks and turtles.
“People say it takes thousands of years to grow a coral reef — and that’s true,” says Alan Lowe, the American owner of the coral cultivating company. “But individual pieces of coral grow rather quickly and can be put together into a reef.”
Dec. 8, 2000 -- They host such diverse life that they’re known as the rain forests of the sea.
Since last July, Lowe began directing the cultivation of nearly 25,000 pieces of coral on what he calls a tank farm. The “farm,” which sprawls over a large swathe of land near the shore, includes 128 shallow tanks. Each tank holds 250 gallons of sea water. Every day, 8 million gallons of water are pumped from the ocean, to the farm and back again to keep the tanks fresh. Inside the tanks, Lowe uses small chunks of existing coral and then a patented process to trigger the coral to multiply.
An Eternal Reef combines a cremation urn, ash scattering and burial at sea into one meaningful, permanent environmental tribute to life. An Eternal Reef is a designed reef made of environmentally-safe cast concrete placed on the ocean floor as a permanent memorial of a life well lived. here
For families and individuals that choose cremation, Eternal Reefs offers a unique memorial choice that replaces cremation urns and ash scatterings with a permanent environmental living legacy. It is both a gift to the environment and to future generations. [links]
In the late ’80s, a pair of college roommates from the University of Georgia often went diving off the Florida Keys. Over years of diving, they saw significant deterioration and degradation of the reefs they were visiting. more
Eternal Reefs is part of the Reef Ball family of companies, strategic partners with the award-winning Reef Ball Foundation and Reef Innovations. Reef balls are the international gold standard of designed materials that Eternal Reefs uses for memorialization. here
Families and friends are invited and encouraged to participate in the creation of their loved one’s memorial reef as much as they wish. From placing hand prints and memorabilia in the damp concrete during the casting, making a rubbing of the bronze plaque during the viewing ceremony, placing a flag on your loved one’s memorial reef during military honors, or boating to the placement site to watch the Eternal Reef be deployed to its final ocean rest, all activities at an Eternal Reefs project are designed to be a positive experience and provide peace of mind for everyone involved.
Can you explain how micro-fragmenting works? more
DW: Why would anyone want to restore a reef?
The Bowie Seamount is an underwater volcano located 180 kilometers off the west coast of Canada. Although the volcano rises about 3,000 meters from the ocean bed, its highest point is 24 meters below sea level. While it may be invisible to those of us living above water, the submerged mountain is home to a rich mix of marine fauna and flora.
The United Kingdom declared this vast stretch of Indian Ocean a marine protected area in 2010. The legality of the move has been contested by Mauritius, which lays claim to the group of islands. In the 1970s, the UK evicted the entire native population from the archipelago and granted the United States permission to use it as a military base.
With the ability to adjust the acidity and temperature of the tanks, Teicher and Halpern were able to figure out which types of coral were the most resilient, so they could plant them in dying reefs. Their coral was more likely to survive the warming ocean temperatures. [links]
“You can really see the ecosystem come back to life once you put the corals back into the reef,” Halpern continued. [links]
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“Coral reefs are one of the cornerstone ecosystems that make the ocean work,” co-founder Sam Teicher told In The Know. “And scientists project that by 2050, over 90 percent of reefs will be dead.”