I’m optimistic about the ocean of the future — just like Sylvia Earle

Later this month, the World Economic Forum (WEF) (a group of liberal environmentalists if I’ve ever seen them) is hosting Blue Davos, in Davos Switzerland.

The annual meeting in Davos, if you don’t know, and don’t realize the parenthetical above was sarcasm, is a meeting of financiers, bankers and world leaders to discuss the world economy. This year it is scheduled for Jan. 19-23.

The focus this year, though, is the blue economy.

Throughout much of my career as a writer and journalist, I’ve written about problems with freshwater, clean drinking water, and the ocean. My novel Water Crisis: Day Zero focused on water refugees and fresh water supply around the world. The message was grim. And frightening. Here’s the latest review on that book.

“I was enthralled and a bit frightened when I read “Water Crisis: Day Zero“ by Eric Douglas because this is a very realistic threat to the world’s water supplies. Kudos to Eric for focusing on a topic that is so topical, and so probable, that a major city will be affected with a shortage of drinkable water in the near future.”

I’ve been diving since 1990 and I have seen changes in the ocean, in just that short period, that worry me. The reefs off the Florida Keys are functionally extinct. I recall Molasses Reef in the 1990s as being amazing. Not so much now.

So, when the World Economic Forum released the focus of this year’s event, and shared Dr. Sylvia Earle’s support, it recharged me, too.

Earle is a 90-year-old explorer that has spent more time underwater than probably anyone. Throughout her life and career, she has been an ocean advocate.

Sylvia Earle has no delusions about the state of the environment. The nonagenarian oceanographer has seen massive destruction to nature on land and sea in her lifetime. But she still has this message of hope to younger generations:

“Never before could we know what is now known. And never again will we have a chance as good as we now have,” she says. The chance Earle is referring to is the opportunity to reverse the decline in nature - something she sees as essential for human flourishing and even survival.

Check out the complete article on Earle’s thoughts on Blue Davos and listen to her talk on a podcast and a video.

From the WEF website, “the Forum will focus on improving freshwater access and management, strengthening “blue food” security, and advancing the blue economy to support ocean conservation.”

For hundreds of years, the ocean was seen as too vast for us to have any effect on it. It was a dumping ground, we took food from it and most importantly took it for granted. Now, finally, all of those corporate and financial interests are recognizing that protecting the ocean is a much smarter play than stealing from it.

I will be watching with interest.

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