Swampy mangrove forests are staging a surprise comeback - which is good news for coastal communities and the climate.
Always good to start the week off with some good news! This is impressive recovery by any standards and good news not just for people living in these coastal areas, but for all of us. We already know mangroves store up to five times as much carbon as land forests, create and sustain the livelihoods of communities that live in their borders, and are home to an incredible variety of biodiversity. We rely on them much more than we realize.
Here's a direct link to the study if you want to dig further into the study itself.
Indigenous-led conservation, extreme heat restricts our lives, and guerrilla gardeners
I read this lovely bit of good news two weeks ago then promptly forgot to share. There is such a plethora of bad news that sometimes the good news gets shoved out of the way, which is more than just a shame. Good people are doing good work every day, even when it's not on our immediate radar. And now, these combined areas across the Great Bear Sea, almost the size of Portugal, make up Canada's first protected marine sanctuary.
Biodiversity is the bedrock of resilience, and kelp forests show why.
Just in time for World Oceans Day on June 8, TIME's new Oceans Issue highlights the forests and jungles and life! that live below the surface of the sea.
Thank you, TIME, for reminding us our stories above the oceans are inextricably tied to those below it.
Still relevant, six years on. You can listen to Amanda read her poem here.
The sea sings out to its many saviors:
Teenagers with fists thrust into the air at climate strikes,
Scientists converging around their data,
A child who stoops to scoop up a piece of trash.
The sea sings out for its singular subjects:
Arching whales that wave from their waves,
Turtles that teeter down their shining shores,
Coral reefs shining brightly as cities.
The sea sings out its suffering,
Knowing too much of waste, screeching sounds
And pernicious poison, its depths bruised by
Atrocities in the Atlantic,
Misery in the Mediterranean,
Its tides the preservers of time past.
The story of the ocean and the story of humanity
Are one and the same, a Great River that
Knows no borders and notes no lines,
Only ripples.
While we might call it the Seven Seas,
Today we sing out your true name:
The one ocean.
For no matter how we try to separate your waters,
You are the colossus that connects us.
Water makes up 70% of Earth,
70% of the human heart,
And 70% of the human being,
All of us, bodies of water,
For we, too are oceans,
Or at least beings bobbing in the same boat.
To stand up for for our ocean
Is to stand up for our own ship
The sea is a restless, strong collective of many pieces.
So are we.
The ocean can recover.
And so will we.
Let us not divide the tides,
But discover all they have to teach us–
Green meadows of sea grass that survive pathogens,
Blue-bloodied marine snails that can fight off viruses.
There are more lessons to learn,
Still more work to be done.
So we lift our faces to the sun.
May the seas help us see healing and hope,
May we sing out the ocean’s survival and revival.
Being the people of this blue planet is our most
Profound privilege and power,
For if we be the ocean’s saviors,
Then it is surely ours.
The starting guide for anyone trying to work in oceans.
I like that this is a beginner’s map for breaking into ocean/climate work when there is no obvious career path. The author’s main point is to not wait for the perfect “ocean job” title; build fluency in the ecosystem, learn the vocabulary, follow where money/policy/innovation are moving, join the networks, and position your existing transferable skills as ocean-relevant. And yes, sometimes that means reaching out to others even when it feels like an awkward cold call.
The ocean needs people who can design programs, build partnerships, translate science and data into action, communicate and tell stories, understand (and create!) policy, implement projects, and raise funding. Many of these roles do not require a marine science degree and anyone in the blue or green economy will tell you they need people with skills across the board. I think this just happened across my timeline at just the right time as a good reminder.
