Jim Porter’s Film Wins Emmy
Like many others, Dr. Jim Porter (SM ‘69, Ph.D. ’73) assumed that “Scientists don’t win Emmys.” But this year he falsified that hypothesis when his film, Chasing Coral won an Emmy for Outstanding Nature Documentary.
Previously, it had been recognized with an Audience Choice Award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and had been conferred a 2017 Peabody Award.
“The Emmy was thrilling enough,” Porter said, “but winning all three of these awards was the journalistic equivalent of horseracing’s Triple Crown. It was stunning and deeply gratifying.” Porter served the film as the Chief Scientific Advisor and Principal Cast Member.
The documentary describes the devastating effects of climate change on coral reefs, Jim’s research specialty at the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Chasing Coral features a series of underwater photographs taken by Porter that provide a “before” and “after” glimpse of the coral reefs of Discovery Bay, Jamaica.
Before And After
Climate change is devastating coral reefs, as seen in Porter’s ‘before’ and ‘after’ images from Jamaica, taken only 10 years apart.
“It’s the kind of incontrovertible, visually arresting evidence that grabs a viewer’s attention and never lets go,” Porter said. “More than anything else, I wanted to get the word out about the importance of the climate crisis and our need to act now to prevent further catastrophe. The red-carpet reception this film has received tells me it has done that.”
“One of my favorite experiences at Yale was in a class that didn’t exist,” Porter says. Yale students were encouraged to propose courses that weren’t in the curriculum. If an instructor could be found and the course were approved, the students could take it.
During the 1968 – 1969 academic year, Life Magazine put a “Journalist in Residence” in Silliman College. Porter explained: “So those of us who were interested in scientific photography (and were therefore unsuccessful in getting into Walker Evans’ art department course), simply created our own course and wound up taking photography from some of the greatest photographers of our time.”
The photographers he’s speaking about included Fritz Goro, the first to photograph the DNA molecule; Ansel Adams, landscape photographer; and Robert Capa, the D-Day Invasion photographer.
That early experience of creating science stories from science images translated into the footage that carried Chasing Coral into the upper echelons of journalistic success. “Yale taught me these skills. I use them every day,” said Porter.
“My second most favorite course was one that didn’t count, S.C.U.B.A.,” Porter continued. He took this P.E. course to get out of freshman calisthenics. “Four years later, when I entered graduate school, this training threw open the doors to my profession.”
“My focus now is on combating climate change,” Porter continued. “Chasing Coral documents these threats. This film is the way I am contributing to this fight.”
Watch the film on Netflix now!
Will Jim be participating in the Climate Change conversation at the 50th?
Wayne, thanks so much for providing us with the link and the information about Jim Porter’s “Chasing Coral”. And congratulations, Jim, for producing such a great documentary. Full length, too! I’m a skeptic of antrhopogenic climate change but your film really succeeded in impressing me with the importance and the tragedy of the coral commons. Thank you for what must surely have been a huge work of passion.
Herb Stiles
Jim – Thank you for your film. The time-lapse photos give me the beginning of what it would feel to live there. It’s hard to imagine the scale on land of the devastation of the coral. So going under water with Zack and the others over and over began to get me into the feeling of being a witness to and actually involved in the destructtion of the reef. I do hope you will share your thinking on environmental threats at our reunion.
Last night, Regina and I watched Jim Porter’s “Chasing Coral” on Netflix. Oh, Jim: I have long heard about coral bleaching, but you showed it to me. To say that it is disturbing to see the devastation that climate change is inflicting on coral is an understatement.
Our generation started out strong in the early 70s on climate change. With leadership from visionaries like David Brewer and Gaylord Nelson, our generation demanded the political response that enabled the passage of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and Clean Drinking Water Act (though damage caused by petroleum operations was exempted from the latter two acts).
But as we took hold of the reins of power, we shrunk from the responsibility to pass on to future generations a healthy, functioning planet. Except for the Montreal Protocol addressing the destruction of the ozone layer by fluorocarbons, we can point to no other concerted global action that is equal to the environmental problems created by the way we conduct our every day lives: the way we go to work, grow and harvest food, create buildings.
Older people have bottled up action for so long, that the cork is about to pop. Forestalling action for three decades, we have ensured that present actions addressing climate change must be drastic. Leaders who are our daughters’ age, like AOC, are demanding a Green New Deal. We have an important role to play. But what is it going to be? What is our response?