I came to the end of another book today. The book is called “Seasick” by Alanna Mitchell – the hidden ecological crisis of the global ocean.
It was a very real wake up call – if there is no ocean, life as we know it on planet earth will cease to exist.
Water – wai – has over the past few years been at the forefront of everything I do. Water – without it we would not survive. Here in Aotearoa we talk about our clean green country, but nothing could be further from the truth. We have some of the most polluted waterways in the world and most people just don’t understand how serious this is.
Right now, I want to quote directly from the book as I think this is important.
“Truth lies in the tales we tell rather than in the scientific facts that give rise to them…the story we tell matters because it alone determines the actions we take or fail to take. In other words, the final vital sign of the global ocean is how the agent of destruction – us – will react…The problem of the atmosphere and the ocean is a problem of human behaviour…”
Many scientists interviewed for this book talked about the timeframe of “2015 – 2030 as the drop-dead point of action that is effective for halting the planet’s course toward chaos. Others are clear that if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere rises above 450 parts per million by volume, that will represent a point of no return. Today it is at 387 and rising faster than at any time since humans appeared on the planet.”
2015 – 2030. I don’t know if this timeframe is accurate, but I do know that the time to act is now. This is my lifetime and that matters to me. And this story starts with me. The story that I want to tell, is that I did everything I could to ensure our ocean and waterways are alive and well.
The last chapter of this book asks – what do I stand for? What story do I tell myself about why I am here? I’m constantly asking myself this question…
And each day I slowly but surely find my way into the answers and I always come back to water.
What do you stand for?
Arohanui,
Jo : )