17. Tales of the Arctic Deep – with Sylvia Earle, Johan Rockström and Taylor Griffith

Written By alexa firmenich

“Explore, document, understand. And bring that information back and encourage others to see for themselves.

No child left dry. Get out there, kid, get wet. Be an explorer, be a witness, do what kids naturally do. Ask questions and never stop, and be kind, be compassionate with other creatures.”

- Dr. Sylvia Earle

 

SYNOPSIS:

A special three part episode recorded onboard a Climate and Oceans expedition in the Norwegian Arctic. We’ll hear about the dark mysteries of the deepest realms of the ocean from “Her Deepness” herself, Dr. Sylvia Earle (possibly the most admired and loved oceanographer of the last century), followed by the latest Planetary Boundaries Earth science from Johan Rockstrom, and the role of ocean storytelling and immersive art installations from Taylor Griffith.

Together, their voices weave a tale of the predicament and possibility of the Arctic and high seas; how to sense the lifeworlds of all the creatures who glow and sparkle and live in the dark within the greatest unexplored part of Earth's biosphere; we learn about ocean exploration in the 21st century, the dangers of deep sea mining, and the role of discovery and art in bringing us into the pulsing heart of the planet’s watery body. I love this episode so much, and I hope you will too.

 

GUEST BIO:

Dr. Sylvia Alice Earle (born 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic Explorer at Large, formerly Explorer in Residence, since 1998.

Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,and was named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998. Sylvia has pioneered research on marine ecosystems, with a special focus on exploration, conservation, and the development of new technologies for effectively accessing the deep sea and other remote environments. She holds the record for deepest walk on the sea floor.

Earle is part of the group Ocean Elders, which is dedicated to protecting the ocean and its wildlife. She founded Mission Blue, an organization dedicated to protecting the ocean from threats such as climate change, pollution, habitat destruction, invasive species, and the dramatic decrease in ocean fish stocks. Earle has led more than a hundred expeditions, logged over 7,000 hours underwater, and has authored more than 190 scientific, technical, and popular publications.

Johan Rockström is an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability issues. He led the development of the Planetary Boundaries framework for human development in the current era of rapid global change. He is a leading scientist on global water resources, with more than 25 years experience in applied water research in tropical regions, and more than 150 research publications in fields ranging from applied land and water management to global sustainability.

In addition to his research endeavours, which has been widely used to guide policy, Rockström is active as a consultant for several governments and business networks.

He also acts as an advisor for sustainable development issues at international meetings including the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conferences (UNFCCC). Professor Rockström chairs the advisory board for the EAT Foundation and the Earth League and has been appointed as chair of the Earth Commission.

Taylor Griffith is a multi-disciplinary artist from Oakland, California, currently living and working in Los Angeles. He obtained his BA in Photography from the University of La Verne in 2019, and in 2021, he received an MFA from Art Center College of Design.

Taylor's work focuses on the relationship between the living ocean and humans. He employs a multi-medium approach to explore the interdisciplinary nexus of art and science in the natural and unnatural world. His artistic practice encompasses photography, sculpture, time-based media, and printmaking. His art aims to foster ongoing conversations about the challenges our planet faces and serves as a lens to alter our perception of time and space, prompting contemplation of the surreal world we inhabit. In 2022, Taylor was nominated as a permanent artist in residence at Altasea, where he maintains a studio practice and engages with the local community in partnership with the organization. Taylor's artwork and video projects have been exhibited globally in galleries and institutions. In Taylor's other professional life, he works as a cinematographer and filmmaker, specializing in underwater and deep-sea imagery. He has contributed images and provided consulting services for projects involving clients such as National Geographic, Blue Planet II, Mission Blue, and the United Nations.

QUOTES:

  • Sylvia: The greatest part of Earth's biosphere — most of life on Earth — is inhabited by creatures who live in the dark.

  • Sylvia: The bioluminescence, the flash, the sparkle, the glow of living creatures, that firefly kind of light of the ocean may be one of the most common forms of communication on the planet.

  • Sylvia: What else don't we know? What else is down there? The greatest era of ocean exploration is just really beginning. I really feel so privileged to be a witness of a world that is really a different world.

  • Sylvia: It's vital for our existence — keeping the big old fish, coral reefs, deep sea systems, these intact systems, wherever they are. Old growth trees, trees that have taken a few hundred, let alone a few thousand years to grow, should be regarded as sacred. Embrace them as if your life depends on it.

  • Sylvia: I'm an optimist. I think we can do this. And as a witness, to be able to share the view, I think is a privilege.

  • Sylvia: Explore, document, understand. And bring that information back and encourage others to see for themselves. No child left dry. Get out there, kid, get wet. Be an explorer, be a witness, do what kids naturally do. Ask questions and never stop, and be kind, be compassionate with other creatures.

  • Sylvia: We're not the big boss of the world. We are utterly, totally dependent on maintaining the integrity of these closely knit systems that have taken literally billions of years to put into place. And we need humility, we need respect as we go forward. Because now we know, we're on the edge.

  • Sylvia: We are the creatures with a gift to go where by nature we're not equipped to go. I mean, imagine what a dolphin would think if it could go up in an airplane.

  • Sylvia: We've developed the habit of using the ocean as the ultimate place to put things we don't want

  • Sylvia: We're taught to be afraid of nature, and to be afraid of other humans. If it's not like us, then it's put aside with a combination of fear and not caring. And it's that otherness that separates us from other humans as well as all other forms of life.

  • Sylvia: To see them in their natural environment, to get to know that big moray eel that occupied that space. And we go back day and night, he'd be hanging out, and sometimes he was out of his little cave, but he always went back to that place. That was his home.

  • Alexa: It's another moment of seeing, of gazing into a truth that is profoundly more ancient than anything you could ever know. And all you can do is bow down and say, I share this with you, this life, this space.

  • Sylvia: These are shared experiences of exploration, of discovery, of documentation, of getting to know the creatures there, not to kill them, but to really ask those questions: Who are you? What are you doing here? How do you spend your days and nights? What's your role?

  • Sylvia: What is it that makes you, you? No, there's nobody else on the planet like you. What are you going to do, that you alone in all of history, can do because you're you? Look in the mirror, figure it out because you have power.

  • Sylvia: And if you want to join us to use your power for helping this network of Hope Spots, welcome aboard. You know, it's one of those places where the space is unlimited. We can take on as many hearts and minds as we want to join the chorus. It's an infinite orchestra. The world needs voices. The ocean needs your voice.

  • Me: This is the death of a thousand cuts. But I also think that it's a million brilliant points of light that heal it.

  • Taylor: One of the other hats I wear is as a studio artist and a contemporary art object maker. I do a lot of work with ghost nets and ghost gear, primarily pulled from the Eastern Pacific and bringing them into the studio to turn them into artworks that show in galleries.

  • Taylor: The deep ocean really is a space that is older than time. And the concept of time down there works so well, differently to how we perceive time on land. Ecosystems down there are millions of years old. They are the old growth forests of the sea.

  • Me: Every breath we take, or at least second breath, the rain that feeds the crops that we eat, that nourishes the soils. Our lives are obviously inextricably woven with the ocean, and that ocean itself, its beating heart, its veins, its own organs are pumped by this deep ocean.

SHOW LINKS

CREDITS

  • Cover Photo: National Geographic, August 1971

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