"The Ocean Is Just Getting Weirder": Marine Biologist Explains The Pile of Dead Marine Mammals

I grew up in the ocean, living on Long Island, with a mother who regularly took us to Jones Beach, as in three or four times a week for most of my childhood. I worked as a lifeguard at Far Rockaway one summer, skin diving around the live covered jetties in my off times. I sailed on the Great South Bay and into the Atlantic for three summers on a 16' Hobie Cat. I skin dived in the outlet from the GSB to the Atlantic. I was going to be a marine biologist, after reading Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us," until life got in the way.

With a reasonable grasp of evolution, I am well aware that we came from the sea, are mostly made of water ~65%, and that our blood is very similar to sea water (despite some dispute as to why). I've seen precursors of hurricane storms, causing me to think of Hemingway's phrase, "the scrotum tingling sea." I spent several summers looking for "the perfect wave," usually to get wiped out in a hurry. I took a one week ecology class in Oregon, wading through the astounding life in tide pools. I spent considerable time in the warm clear waters of the Caribbean, boogie boarding with my son for hours and taking surfing lessons.

In short, I love the sea, even the very smell of it. And to see it's wonders vanishing before our eyes truly breaks my heart, and makes me ponder jumping in with cinder blocks adhered to my feet. Lesser endowed or fortunate people still wonder why there is not more evidence of global warming. We now know that 90% of it is stored in the oceans, which are near maximum capacity. Ditto much of the CO2, that the oceans have so kindly trapped for us, disrupting the growth of calcium based shells. The once plentiful fish are disappearing and many already have. Need I say more?

One of the latest videos from Sam Mitchell tells more.