Oceans.
Mysteries of the Deep
There's just something about them. People throughout time have relayed stories of sea monsters. Giant octopus, elusive whales, wailing sirens. Most of these are chalked down to sailors losing their minds after months isolated at sea. But, every so often, these stories gain credibility. The giant squid was snorted at for hundreds of years, until one washed up in Newfoundland to be photographed in 1873. Now, they are well known. What other strange sea creatures, dismissed as myth and legend, may one day wash up on our shores to make its way from fiction to fact. Will the Kraken one day be written into our biology textbooks?
The seas are rising. Every year in my hometown we get big winter storms, and these are only getting bigger. And while it is fun to go out and photograph these storms, to feel the salt splashing my face and to brace against the extraordinary winds, there is a very real danger. Sea level rise is often expressed as an average, making it seem maybe not so bad. The water is rising 3.7mm/year (IPCC, 2023)? Doesn't sound awful. This is, however, an average of 3.7mm/year across the whole planet, and may be far greater in some places than in others. This is also cumulative, and since 1880 sea level has risen 21-24cm (NOAA,2023).
A fascinating feature of the oceans is that sea level is not level at all. There can be as much as a 200m difference in sea level between geographic locations. Some places will see no sea level rise, but others will be devastated (Shapoval et al., 2020). In addition, tides change depending on where you live. Close to where I am currently, there is a tidal range of a full 8 metres. When sea level increases even just a little bit, there is more water moving in and out of tidal areas, increasing maximum tidal height way past 3.7mm. The next few years will see more flooding, more storm damage, more coastal erosion.
Already, a town near my home in the UK has been written off as it is sinking into the sea. But we can stop this, by switching to renewable energy sources and changing the way we live to be more in tune with nature. Sustainable living will allow us to keep living into the future, keep enjoying the things we enjoy, and maintain peace and happiness for everybody for generations to come.
I often hear people say that humans are a 'blight on the planet', but I adamantly disagree with this. We absolutely can live with nature, as evidenced by the multitude of different societies that learned how to do so around the world. I've come to see sustainability not as a necessity, but as a great opportunity to form a world that values peace, wellbeing, and respect, and to restore our deeply inherent connection to the natural world.
A Final Note
