Photo of the day

Large corporations are rushing to mine minerals from the last untouched frontier on the planet: the deep sea, a habitat for countless incredible creatures, including the sperm whale in today’s photo. The deep sea encompasses 95% of the ocean’s volume and is the largest and least explored of Earth’s ecosystems. Deep-sea mining would throw the surrounding environment into a state of chaos. Some estimates show that the mining will emit noise levels several hundred times louder than those of a rocket launch, endangering sensitive marine species like whales. But we’re hopeful that deep-sea mining can be stopped before it’s begun: so far, almost 80,000 people have added their names to the letter to #DefendTheDeep. It’s a great achievement, and we’ll be delivering the signatures to the United Nations and International Seabed Authority soon ✊