Even in Ohio, of course, we’re connected to the oceans. By Lake Erie, the Ohio River, our local watersheds, farming practices, food choices, plastic use, energy sources, and on and on.
Why celebrate, honor and care for the oceans? Here’s the eloquent, wise Rachel Carson in her 1941 book Under the Sea-Wind: “To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.”
A CNN report today said the plastic-filled Great Pacific Garbage Patch is growing faster than expected and is “now three times the size of France.” France is about the same size as Texas, so picture three Texases’ worth of trash — or, closer to home, 75 Lake Eries’ worth — swirling in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Today, there’s more than just the sound of waves and whales in the ocean. There’s tremendous underwater noise from shipping, oil and gas exploration, and naval sonar training, and it’s causing stress, deafness and even death in marine animals, especially whales and dolphins, which have sensitive hearing.
The next screening in Ohio State’s 2017 Environmental Film Series, “Sonic Sea,” looks at that problem and at cooperative efforts — involving scientists, industry, the navies of nations and others — to solve it. It shows at 7 p.m. tonight — Monday, Nov. 13 — in Room 130 in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry (CBEC) Building on Ohio State’s Columbus campus. Admission is free and open to the public; free pizza and beverages at 6:45 p.m.
A new report from the United Nations “finds that biodegradable plastics, commonly found in plastic bags and bottles, degrade at extremely slow rates,” according to a story in the Christian Science Monitor. CFAES scientist Fred Michel is quoted in the story among others. The issue relates to the growing amount of plastic polluting our oceans. The authors of the report, according to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, wrote: “There is a moral argument that we should not allow the ocean to become further polluted with plastic waste, and that marine littering should be considered a ‘common concern of humankind.’”
A story in today’s Rolling Stone says “the worst predicted impacts of climate change are starting to happen — and much faster than climate scientists expected.” Screw your courage to the sticking-place and read it.