“Water, water, everywhere, and ot a drop to drink,” wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” And although there certainly is water, water everywhere, the problem is that it is warming as we continue to rely on fossil fuels, disrupting the natural balance of greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere.
Now the administration wants to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative set up in 2016 with 900 instruments to measure the ocean’s health. This comes at a time when we are looking a mining the seabed without considering the consequences to our future health on this planet. Scientists are especially concerned about the AMOC, the ocean’s system of currents, which is under threat, portending major environmental changes.
Well, the assumption is what you don’t know won’t hurt you, so as NSF under its new leadership continues to plod along, with its “new priorities” greedily ravaging our planet, we can be sure that there may not be a drop to drink.
Prayer for the Day
You, O God, created the deep and flowing oceans,
Full of life we see and life beneath the waters;
But now we fear for the health of all its creatures,
From the tiny whelk to the huge Leviathan.
Awaken in us, O Lord, the consequences of ignorance,
The realization that the seas cannot be pillaged.
In the name of the One who walked by the seashore,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Ongoing monitoring of the ocean is critical, especially now. Concern in the oceanography community about major ocean current changes ahead is large.
Stefan Rahmstorf, Potsdam University in Germany who studies the AMOC
To me, this is counterintuitive because we are not funding the things that will help us maintain maritime dominance and shellfish competitiveness.
Jan Newton, University of Washington
Then the Lord answered Job ut of the whirlwind:
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have understanding.
Who determined is measurements—surely you know!
Or stretched the lines upon it? On what were its bases sunk,
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
Job 38: 1, 3-7