You thought the climate was the problem? Actually, it’s the ocean.
Sea Sick is the first book to explain how the global ocean — 99 per cent of the planet’s living space — is undergoing vast chemical changes at the hand of man and why that matters.
In a nutshell, some of the carbon dioxide we are putting into the air by burning fossil fuels is being absorbed by the ocean. That puts it into a state it has not been in for millions of years: more acid, warmer, and more prone to vast oxygen-deprived dead zones. At risk is the very structure of life in the ocean and therefore, on the planet as a whole.
I traveled around the world to find the big picture and translate the science — three years, 13 journeys.
I snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef, sign on as a member of the scientific crew examining the huge “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, traipse the beaches of Zanzibar to see how the world’s poor will make do without fish, witness a breathtaking once-a-year coral spawning in the waters off Panama, immerse myself in the fantastical world of plankton and the acidifying ocean. Ultimately, as you follow me on my terrifying voyage to the bottom of the ocean, you face your own fear and despair and discover hope.
This book changed the way I see our planet.
Praise for Sea Sick
“A riveting book of revelations about earth’s largest and most important habitat.”
—-Australian biologist and author Tim Flannery
“Dead zones in the oceans are scary places… Alanna Mitchell, a journalist with an engaging style and a liking for following around marine biologists on their boats, calls the human-made dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico ‘the blob’.”
—-Fred Pearce New Scientist.
“It is often said that our oceans are less understood than the surface of the moon. Alanna Mitchell’s informative and deeply moving book gives a wonderful portrait of a global marine ecosystem that desperately needs both greater popular understanding and international protection against looming catastrophe.” —-Mark Lynas, Environmentalist and author of ‘Six Degrees’.”
Interviews about Sea Sick, the book
Interview with Alanna on ABC (Australian Broadcast Corp.) show The National Interest. Transcript is downloadable.
Interview with Alanna on Radio New Zealand National.
Interview with Alanna on CBC’s Quirks and Quarks.
The Ocean in Peril. To purchase the full, hour long video ($3.99) click here.
Alanna Mitchell 