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barneswilsonrogers · 3 days ago

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Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie deserves that Emmy!

Now that Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie has been nominated for an Emmy, I just wanted to express my appreciation for that project. I don’t personally know much about the ocean’s ecology, but I do a decent amount of education and outreach where I live about how community members can help preserve our local ecosystem. So from what I’ve experienced, I think that this program did such a good job of demonstrating the conservation ethic regarding how people can coexist with predator species.

Anthony Mackie starts off with his investigation because he sees how shark depredation (the phenomenon of sharks taking human-caught fish) is negatively affecting his community in New Orleans, both hobbyists like himself and professional fishers. And he learns that this problem occurs because humans and sharks like to catch fish in the same spots!

But rather than use this as an opportunity to paint sharks as the villain, Mackie expresses genuine curiosity and consults actual biologists. And I love that the main biologist he works with is a Black woman, Jasmin Graham. This is really important representation for a field that has historically not been welcoming to Black people. She is great in this and has a great rapport with Mackie. And Mackie learns about how bull sharks have been spawning all around New Orleans. And how the still unfortunately common practice of culling sharks does nothing to actually fix the issue of depredation. This is a topic that I already had some knowledge of regarding terrestrial predators. Where I live now, people are always killing rattlesnakes and coyotes. Even though those are native species who play an essential part in their ecosystem. Even when, as with sharks, there is plenty of evidence showing that these cullings don’t work! You can’t just kill them, you can’t repel them, you just have to learn to be able to live alongside them.

And that’s where this special goes - talking about how to better share the ocean with the sharks who live there. Of course it's all about habitat, so Mackie checks out people’s projects looking into constructed reefs and restoring coastal plant species. And he talks about the impacts of hurricane Katrina on his own life and all of New Orleans. The disappearing coastline that the sharks rely on also leaves coastal cities vulnerable to catastrophic weather events like hurricanes. And these kind of weather events are becoming more frequent and more devastating as a result of catastrophic climate change. We realize that Anthony Mackie and his community are being affected by climate change and habitat loss just like the sharks he didn’t even know lived so close to him. By looking out for the people around him, he realizes that the sharks are also part of his community! And the practices that help sharks, fortifying the plant communities on the coast that shelter the mainland from hurricanes, also help people.

As someone who does a lot of engagement around conservation, I’m very aware of how white the field is. Which is a problem, because this alienates Black people especially, even when they are often most affected by the impacts of environmental destruction and climate change. So things like this program are really important, by having a celebrity as well-known and charming as Anthony Mackie dive into an issue that personally affects him and his home. It feels like everyone involved took the opportunity to give a message about conservation that didn’t exclude Black communities and instead uplifted them. This special is a fantastic example of conservation education, and I’m glad it exists! I really hope it wins the Emmy it was nominated for, both for Mackie’s sake and also so that more people might watch it.

#aw this is so sweet #i havent seen it yet now i have to #mackie #shark beach with anthony mackie

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barneswilsonrogers · 3 days ago

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