George and the Whales

As Earth warms and weather patterns shift, humanity is experiencing the dire impacts of climate change. On low-lying islands across the Pacific sea level rise is more prevalent than ever before, as loss of land threatens the existence of entire cultures and communities. To raise awareness about these urgent issues, 13 young voyagers from the Polynesian Voyaging Society prepare to sail from Hawai‘i to California on the ancestral voyaging canoe Hikianalia. The sister canoe to the famed Hōkūleʻa, which circumnavigated the globe in 2016, Hikianalia is powered by wind and solar energy. The crew will go on to navigate a 23-day, 2,800-mile journey in the traditional way of their Polynesian ancestors — using only the currents beneath them and the stars above.

Emperor penguins demonstrate the most amazing adaptations: in the middle of the Antarctic winter, in the worst conditions, the males huddle together to keep warm and protect the eggs carefully transferred to them by the females. But climate change is threatening emperor penguins. A new study says if global warming continues at its current rate, more than 80 percent of emperor penguin colonies will be gone in the next 80 years. If we meet the Paris Agreement objectives, some viable refuge will exist.

In the heart of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, between Costa Rica’s Cocos Island and Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, there is a swimway. An abundance of marine species, some critically endangered, rely on this underwater “superhighway” as a migratory corridor, but once they leave the protected waters of Cocos and the Galápagos, they become vulnerable to industrial fishing exploitation. The Sharkwater, a former fishing vessel, was one of such offenders, but has now been repurposed for conservation. This is the story of how 21 multinational researchers and crew members utilized this ship for 20 days to give, instead of take, from the Cocos-Galápagos Swimway. The science they gathered along the way might just be the tipping point to finally get this essential part of our blue planet fully protected.

From after-school discovery clubs and summer camps to his very first coral reef snorkeling trip, Dashane Knowles can’t remember a time in his life when he wasn’t involved with the Friends of the Environment (FRIENDS) community. Having caught the environmentalism bug at a young age, and after seeing his home island in The Bahamas decimated by Hurricane Dorian, Dashane has dedicated his career to making Abaco more climate resilient through science, innovation, and education. This is Dashane’s memorable walk through a post-Dorian Abaco.

Cocos Island, part of a long underwater mountain ridge that connects with Galápagos — and one of a handful of marine protected areas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape — attracts enormous aggregations of endangered wildlife like sharks, turtles, and whales. However, as soon as these species exit the marine reserve during their extensive migration along underwater mountain ranges, they become vulnerable to illegal, unregulated, and unsustainable fishing practices. In an unprecedented discovery by an international group of scientists, the need to create a fully protected marine “superhighway” that connects the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Cocos Island National Park and Galápagos Marine Reserve is made clear. Their findings underscore that we have much to learn about nature, and that effective conservation transcends national boundaries.

As a waitress at a local tourist resort on Cat Island, Antonese Anthon tells guests every day how to access a nearby beach that is one of the most beautiful in all The Bahamas. Yet, she has never been herself. This is not an uncommon scenario for many Bahamians — that a history of colonialism, servitude, and the transatlantic slave trade has created barriers to their most accessible resource, the ocean. However, through a process of remembering her inherent connection with the ocean, Antonese gains a vision of an alternative future — one that includes the opportunity to follow a brighter path forward, one that connects her to the global community through a shared love for the ocean. With the support of Young Marine Explorers, a Bahamian-led nonprofit working to ensure that all members of the community have the tools needed to protect the ocean, Antonese embarks on a transformational journey into her past and into the water. Donning mask, fins, and snorkel, she takes her first ever deep-sea dive and crosses a threshold toward hope.

Over 80 percent of our ocean remains unexplored and unmapped, leaving us with an incredible opportunity to explore and study ecosystems that remain a mystery. When scientists at the Cape Eleuthera Institute partnered with the Alucia, a state-of-the-art research vessel, they had no idea how impressed and inspired they would be by what they found. Plunging 2,624 feet into the Exuma Sound in two manned submersibles, the team observed pancake batfish, swimming sea cucumbers, white-spotted catsharks, a dazzling array of jellyfish, and more. The hope is that by shining a light on the ecological value of The Bahamas’ deep ocean habitats, these discoveries will further the creation of new marine protected areas that include the deep sea as well as shallow water marine environments.

The Bahamas is internationally recognized for its stunning seascapes and wealth of fauna and flora. However, this paradise is polluted by plastic — the marine litter concentrations for The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean are nearly three times the global average. Kristal Ambrose is a Bahamian marine and environmental scientist, also known as “Kristal Ocean.” After sailing across the Pacific Ocean to study an oceanic “garbage patch,” she returned home to inspire the government and local communities to move toward a plastic-free Bahamas, creating a nonprofit called Bahamas Plastic Movement. Through her unique, joyful approach to education and activism, Kristal connects Bahamian youth to the ocean and empowers them to use their voice to protect the natural environment. Together, they are the Plastic Warriors.

For many Bahamians, the ocean is home. From these waters comes sustenance, opportunity, and identity. But this relationship is also complex and paradoxical. With a population of over 90 percent African descent, The Bahamas endures a colonial past of trauma and enslavement that can’t be overlooked if their future is to remain hopeful, especially amidst the rising threats of climate change, resource extraction, and ecological decline. The ocean then links these worlds—the past and present, suffering and restoration, exploitation and preservation—and offers a path forward. Only by working together equitably will these opportunities of the ocean be fully realized and protected. Only by uniting as bodies of water—as advocates, educators, and environmentalists—will past legacies be amended and amazing new potentials be achieved.

The eastern coast of Mozambique is notorious for riptides and drownings. For the people who live here, the ocean is their livelihood, but also a dangerous place, and rarely is anyone taught how to swim. Pascoal is a conservationist at Love The Oceans, an ocean conservation nonprofit supporting swimming classes and marine conservation lessons in Guinjata, the local village. We follow Pascoal’s story of overcoming his fear of the sea, and how he is passing on his knowledge and advice to future generations.

Blue Carbon is about mud and the multiple benefits that estuaries provide for us. As wetlands ecologist John Rybczyk says, “You never go into a wetland and just restore one benefit.” It improves water quality, provides salmon habitat, protects our shorelines, and also benefits our climate. In 2018, Restore America’s Estuaries led a first-of-its-kind study in the Snohomish Estuary of Puget Sound, Washington to quantify the climate benefits of estuary restoration. This short film helps to build awareness of blue carbon (carbon that’s captured and stored by coastal wetlands) as a climate mitigation tool and to encourage more investment in wetland restoration at local, state, and federal levels.

As Singapore dredges sand out from beneath Cambodia’s mangrove forests, an ecosystem, a communal way of life, and one woman’s relationship to her beloved home are faced with the threat of erasure. For over a decade, the government of Cambodia has granted several private companies concessions to mine these mangrove forests for sand. Each year, millions of metric tons of sand are shipped to Singapore to enlarge this island nation’s landmass, while Cambodia destroys its only natural protection against erosion, rising sea levels, tsunamis, and hurricanes and lays waste to a vital and fragile ecosystem that thousands of families depend on for their livelihood.

In Antarctica, nothing is stationary. The only constant is change. One noticeable and increasingly evident change is the recovery of the humpback whales that feed in the waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, after industrial whaling almost wiped them out. In February 2020, wildlife filmmaker Richard Sidey was invited to join a team of scientists undertaking humpback whale research in Antarctica with Conservation International. Whales in a Changing Ocean follows the team as they observe humpback whale behavior and gather information vital to protecting the Antarctic continent into the future.