By Joe Gaydos
In an effort to stay in touch and combat the emotional separation that social distancing can incite, we wanted to reach out to you – our community of supporters and fellow ocean-lovers.
First and foremost, we hope that you and all of your friends and family are healthy and stay healthy. Thank you for making sacrifices to help flatten the curve of this pandemic. We also send compassion to all who are out of jobs, had to lay people off, or are suffering from the isolation. Hang in there!
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the stress related to the fear and anxiety surrounding the health, social, and economic implications of this pandemic, is real. One thing they suggest to combat this is to spend time focusing on something positive. We recommend the ocean.
While we are rightly currently focused on this human crisis, the ocean – the place that covers 71% of the earth’s surface, contains 97% of the earth’s water and drives the water cycle – is still producing our drinking water, providing more than 50% of the oxygen we breath (thank you photosynthetic plankton), and supporting the fish, shellfish and kelp that feed us.
And if that’s not enough to give you hope, social distancing is reducing two of the largest sources of carbon emissions, auto and airline travel. This is decreasing CO2 emissions while slowing ocean warming and ocean acidification. Meanwhile, reductions in commercial and recreational vessel traffic is quieting our oceans – to the benefit of a whole suite of ocean creatures from herring to killer whales.
We at SeaDoc are working from home and staying on mission. Justin and Mira pulled together an amazing homeschool website that has videos, lesson plans, movies and other educational materials about the Salish Sea and our oceans. It’s easy to use, even for the many parents who find themselves homeschooling their children while also juggling work.
Our Science Advisors have reviewed a suite of really strong research proposals and this week will identify the top projects for funding. And of course, we always have papers to write and scientific expertise to provide to people still working on ocean health.
This is not a moment to worry about the ocean. But know it’s out there as something positive, beautiful and life-sustaining to focus on if you get down. Keep yourselves and your loved ones healthy, keep doing the right things for the greater good of all, and don’t let this pandemic divide us into haves and have nots, susceptible and not-so-susceptible, right or left. If ever there has been an example that we are all in this world together, it is this pandemic. Let’s keep working together and supporting each other and maybe when it is all over, we’ll do a better job of caring for the ocean as well.