What seems like a must-read, i.e….
SEA SICK by ALANNA MITCHELL
Yesterday morning, I tuned in to my favourite news magazine show , i.e., cbc news Sunday, www.cbc.ca/sunday just in time to watch an interview with the abovementioned author.
http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2009/05/051709_1.html#comments
**
The book does not seems to be available in my neck of the woods at this moment but it appears it should be required reading for everyone.
** (sidenote: if you get to see this interview, at the 13-minute mark (or so), do you not think the part in which he says that all coral spawn at the same time on the same day in the same hour and in the same moment around the world… just that is something that is fascinating and must be looked into further, yes?)
Here is a(nother) brief look into the publication:
http://www.mcclelland.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780771061165
http://www.mcclelland.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780771061165
Sea Sick
The Global Ocean in Crisis
Pub Date: March 3, 2009
Price: $32.99
About this Book
All life — whether on land or in the sea — depends on the oceans for two things:
• Oxygen. Most of Earth’s oxygen is produced by phytoplankton in the sea. These humble, one-celled organisms, rather than the spectacular rain forests, are the true lungs of the planet.
• Climate control. Our climate is regulated by the ocean’s currents, winds, and water-cycle activity.
Sea Sick is the first book to examine the current state of the world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet — and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them.
Alanna Mitchell joins the crews of leading scientists in nine of the global ocean’s hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening around the world. Whether it’s the impact of coral reef bleaching, the puzzle of the oxygen-less dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico, or the shocking implications of the changing Ph balance of the sea, Mitchell explains the science behind the story to create an engaging, accessible yet authoritative account.
Review Quotes
“A riveting book of revelations about Earth’s largest and most important habitat.”
— Tim Flannery, author of
The Weathermakers
“Sea Sick is the most comprehensive book to date on the state of our oceans. With a writer’s eye for detail and a reporter’s expertise in pulling in disparate information, Mitchell has woven a powerful and deeply unsettling story about our collective abuse of the cradle of all life. Fortunately, she also gives us hope and a path forward if we have the wisdom to act.”
— Maude Barlow
“Alanna Mitchell has brilliantly woven together the threads of science taking place all over the world pointing to an accelerating crisis in the world’s oceans. She makes the case compellingly that the declining health of the planet’s oceans — the place where life began, larger than our atmosphere and where 99% of life exists — is an imminent threat to survival on land. I thought I was sufficiently well-informed and alert to the risks of planetary collapse before reading this book. Turns out I was wrong. The climate crisis is more an ocean crisis. That she still finds reasons to hope is one reason you must read this book.”
— Elizabeth May
“Humanity is visiting a desolation upon the world. We already bear primary responsibility for the extermination of more than 100,000 fellow species/fellow travelers. During the next few decades, that colossal massacre may well be doubled or trebled. Death is running amok on the earth, but especially in the sea. If you would know how and why, read Sea Sick . . . although it may make you heartsick.”
— Farley Mowat
“…she writes intelligently and passionately. You need to read it too.”
— Globe & Mail
“Keeping the ocean’s life switch turned on will require all of us to, like Mitchell, choose hope and to do something about it. Reading this book is a good first step.”
— Montreal Gazette
“A strong examination of degraded global ocean health based on years of research with top world scientists.”
— The Vancouver Province
“An engaging overview on the state of our oceans.”
— Treehugger.com
“Each chapter in the book blends lucid, factual explanation of complex subjects with engaging chronicles of the author’s travels to far-flung parts of the globe.”
— Quill & Quire
About this Author
Alanna Mitchell was the science and environment reporter at the
Globe and Mail for fourteen years, until she left daily journalism to devote herself to writing on science. In 2000, she was named the best environmental reporter in the world by the Reuters Foundation and was invited in 2002 to undertake a guest fellowship at Oxford University. Out of this came her first book,
Dancing at the Dead Sea, published in 2004. Mitchell is an associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development and is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on environmental issues. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.
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a review
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/entertainment/book-review-seasick-alanna-mitchell/1263421.aspx
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/entertainment/book-review-seasick-alanna-mitchell/1263421.aspx
Book review – Seasick, Alanna Mitchell
STEPHEN DAVENPORT
8/09/2008 2:51:00 PM
According to Canadian journalist Alanna Mitchell, humans are biologically occupying this planet on sufferance, at the grace of the ocean. The seas both gives us life and keep us alive, she persuasively argues in Seasick, her impassioned environmental exposition.
If all life on land became extinct, she explains, creatures in the ocean would flourish. But if the opposite occurred and the oceanic system died, then the land-dwelling creatures would also die. Life would have to start afresh. So why are humans destroying our only hope for survival? Is it because we reason that there are plenty more fish in sea? Mitchell intelligently pulls together the strands of current scientific knowledge and claims that the ocean is sick and the malady is a weightier and a more crucial predicament than atmospheric change.
Many scientists agree with Mitchell’s theory of mass degeneration beneath the waves and its consequences to life on this planet. Seasick reveals the global ocean’s vital signs are fading and that “the cold Southern ocean is becoming saturated with carbon dioxide, meaning it won’t be able to absorb much more.” What is the final result of this change? When will it occur? And how will homo sapiens fare? These are a few of the questions asked in this extraordinarily thorough book. If the oceans die, so does all life on land. Is that worth reading about? If you think so, Seasick: The hidden ecological crisis of the global ocean is a timely wake-up call to us all. Pier 9 RRP $29.95.
