https://www.inverse.com/culture/the-case-for-ocean-optimism
"Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying
seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from
whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence
fisheries.
Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may
be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest
precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let's not even talk about
ocean pollution.
But there’s good news, too, says Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef biologist at the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. In fact, she says, many marine
conservation efforts around the globe are seeing good results.
“There are a lot of successes out there, and most people don’t know about
them,” Knowlton says. It’s important to share those successes, she adds, to
avoid paralyzing feelings of hopelessness and to spread the knowledge of
approaches that work.
That’s why she and her allies began pushing the #oceanoptimism Twitter hashtag
in 2014. Organizations such as Conservation Optimism and the Cambridge
Conservation Initiative have broadened her theme, helping to share conservation
stories, findings, resolve, and resources.
In marine conservation, “successful efforts typically are neither quick nor
cheap and require trust and collaboration,” Knowlton wrote in a 2020 Annual
Review of Marine Science paper promoting ocean optimism. Focusing on success
stories, she stressed, helps motivate people to work toward new successes.
Here are glimpses of a few bright spots in the pitched battle for the blue
planet."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
