Finding Hope & Light In These Dark, December Days
Hi readers and welcome to the first Wednesday Wins of December! In honour of our Northern Hemisphere’s slow dirge toward darkness on the 21st, I’m filling this week’s wins with an assortment of stories that bring with them hope and light.
Let’s face it: December is a hard month. Winter is a hard season. (At least, in regions that experience dwindling daylight, snow, and colder temperatures.) We struggle to stay awake and productive past 3PM, our urge to go outside and run is basically gone (can’t be just me!), and we’re surprised when all the snacks are gone from our cupboards.
Bring On the Hope & Light!
Given all of that, it behooves us to seek out our own light sources. Maybe we can lay off the snacks (maybe just for a day) and fill up on stories, instead. This is the season of quiet, contemplation, and reflection. It’s been a doozy of a year and we’re all in need of extra doses of hope and lightness (and Vitamin D – get yours!!).
With this week’s wins, I hope to tide myself – and you – over until we get beyond the solstice and on the path to longer, more sun-filled days. Let’s get to it!
1. Diversity in Marine Science
The Internet can be a crazy place these days and sometimes it’s just way – too – much. But on most other days, it’s a mind-blowingly amazing place to connect with people from all over the planet. It’s also a wonderful tool for amplifying important causes, quickly. This past year has seen so many movements! So many different things to fill our lives with an abundance of hope and light. One, Black In Marine Science, came onto my radar as it was happening last week, and it got me pretty stoked.
You see, I was a marine science student in university. My university experience was incredible, life-altering, and wonderful. I learned a lot, made lifelong friends, and my passion for protecting the ocean was born there. But it was also a very…white experience (and, because I often forget that some people who are reading this have never met me, I should mention that I’m white). This lack of diversity is something that didn’t occur to me until much later.
#BlackinMarineScience
As time has gone on though, I’ve noticed a shift – for the better (thank gawd). Of course, the issue of inclusion and diversity has made massive waves this year but it is – unfortunately – not a new issue. So that’s why, when I saw “Black in Marine Science” pop up on my Twitter feed last week, I was encouraged, inspired, and filled with hope.
Black in Marine Science is a group of Black Marine Scientists and their allies, who organized the online event, #BlackinMarineScienceWeek (November 29 – December 5). The purpose of the event was to share and amplify the incredibly rich and diverse stories from black marine scientists. And holy MOLY were there some incredible stories!! Not to mention, really impactful research. I even – virtually – ran into a colleague from my days at the Darling Marine Center. Talk about small world moments!
It made my heart happy to see so many people working so, so hard – and passionately – to understand all aspects of our watery world.
The world of marine science is not immune to the issues facing our societies today, and there is much work to be done to level the playing field. Events like #BlackinMarineScienceWeek are encouraging but they require all hands on deck to keep momentum going. The more we talk up movements like this, the more hope and light we bring to the table. Sign me up to help amplify these kinds of messages!
2. Tracking Plastic
More marine science magic! And, my favourite topic: plastic pollution! Recently, researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK came up with a new way to track trash in our oceans: using plastic bottles. I know, I know…seems sort of counterproductive. But wait – it’s actually pretty cool.
The researchers paired tiny tracking devices with plastic bottles, and traced the bottles’ movements along India’s Ganges River, into the Bay of Bengal. The goal of this work is to figure out how plastics get from places like rivers (far from the sea), to the open ocean. It’s become increasingly obvious that the plastic in the ocean didn’t start out there…and in fact is often carried “downstream” via all kinds of inland waterways before finally dumping into our salty seas. From their abstract:
“Rivers worldwide are now acting as major transport pathways for plastic pollution and discharge large quantities of waste into the ocean. Previous oceanographic modelling and current drifter data have been used to predict the movement and accumulation of plastic pollution in the marine environment, but our understanding of the transport and fate through riparian systems is still largely unknown.”
Duncan EM, Davies A, Brooks A, Chowdhury GW, Godley BJ, Jambeck J, et al. (2020) Message in a bottle: Open source technology to track the movement of plastic pollution. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0242459. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242459
In the Spirit of Giving…
The coolest part about this research is the fact that they used open source tracking technology to keep tabs on their bottles (think GPS cellular networks and satellite tech).
Because this tech is open source, anyone can take this idea and apply it to their own riparian areas to see where their waters flow. With this knowledge will come a much greater understanding of a) how water moves and b) where our trashy trash tends to accumulate. This will help focus and enhance both mitigation and cleanup efforts.
Plastic pollution can be a total downer. This research demonstrates that there is there’s reason to be optimistic. Kudos to this group of scientists for filling our horizon with hope and light.
Hallelujah!
Also, random PS for my plant-based food-loving fronds: the above study was published in PLOS One. Did you know the founder of Impossible Foods – Pat Brown – also co-founded PLOS?! Mind = blown!
3. Finding Wisdom (and hope) on Midway Atoll
Ah, albatross. The bird species that made me fall in love with birds. Laysan Albatross are a beautiful species of seabird, native to the North Pacific, and 70% of their population calls Midway Atoll home. “Wisdom” is one of those birds. She is somewhere in the ballpark of 69 years old. Yes, I too am picking my jaw up off the floor. 😳
Back in 2012, I had the incredible honour of living and working on Midway for four, glorious months, and truly fell in love with these charismatic mega-fauna. But, because of the timing of my trip, I missed seeing Wisdom for myself. (although I think I may have seen her chick!). Since my time on Midway, I keep a weather eye out for news about the birds, and this week a friend of mine clued me into the fact that Wisdom – is – BACK!
The Bird is the Word
Now, there are lots of Laysan Albatross on Midway. Like, almost a million. During the breeding season, it’s sheer mayhem as birds wheel in the sky and find their mates among the cacophony of noises. But because of the tireless efforts from many, many biologists and volunteers, they are able to track the population, using bird-specific leg bands. And because Laysan Albatross exhibit “nest site fidelity,” researchers are confident they’ll be able to find their particular bird. Just go to last year’s nest and wait!
Wisdom returning to her nest, with her mate, may seem like a lot of fuss or no big deal. She’s a bird, she lays an egg, so what?
I’m kind of a big deal…people know me.
Well for starters, she’s the oldest known Laysan to still be hatching and raising chicks. And Albatross chicks are a big deal: because it’s quite energy intensive to raise a single chick (it takes 7 months!) they don’t often lay every year.
Wisdom’s return is also a small beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak year. So much of this year has been thrown off-kilter! The return of albatross to Midway provides a reminder that things in the animal kingdom are still happening like clockwork. There’s a bit of comfort in that.
“Surely as the sun will set and rise each day, albatross will return to their home on Midway Atoll. Their return, heralded by Wisdom’s arrival each year, is a reminder that as long as we take care of their home, wildlife will continue to follow their natural rhythms.“
US Fish & Wildlife Service: Pacific Islands
4. The (Continued) Importance of Supporting Local Food Movements
It’s easy to remember the importance of supporting local food and farmers during the height of harvest season and abundant farmers markets. (Something I’ve written about previously.) But it’s harder once the fields have been put to bed, the days growing shorter, and the freshness of greens a distant memory.
That’s why I was happy to see an update come through my inbox, from a really neat, grow-to-donate farm, located in my former home place of Newcastle, Maine. Veggies to Table is a non-profit farm operation, started by Erica and Alain after they moved to Maine from Paris. Their purpose: growing food and donating it to those who need it most. They also promote sustainable farming, healthy eating practices, and build community through volunteerism. It’s a beautiful model and one that has been inspiring to watch! (Sadly, I missed seeing this chunk o’ paradise before I left Maine for Canada – adding it to the list of places I will visit when we’re free to move about the cabin.)
Their email was a reminder for me to seek out local produce, wherever and whenever possible – even in the middle of winter. Even if it’s just a few potatoes and some beets! Buying – and eating – local food can fill us up with LOTS of edible hope and light.
Avoid the Big Box Bedlam
This message also hit home after a recent (and discouraging) trip to my local, big-box grocery store. I happened to be picking up a prescription and, while waiting, decided to peruse the produce section. What I found was truly dismaying (although sadly, not surprising). Pears from the States. Bell peppers from Mexico. Berries from Peru. Oranges from South Africa.
The model that Erica and Alain have chosen for their farm is noble, and worth supporting. In buying from and supporting local producers, we are directly supporting our local community. And, the money stays in the community. The closer to the source of our food we get, the more of that money goes to the actual farmer. I’m still stretching my head wondering how farmers in South Africa are making any profit on oranges selling for $1.66/lb CAD. >.<
Get inspired and take a gander at the beautiful food Erica, Alain, and their team of dedicated volunteers grew this season:
5. Can-Do Attitude
Here’s a headline that’ll make you smile: “Couple collects 32K empties from logging road, donates proceeds to search volunteers.”
A story written up in my local news outlet reported on a cleanup tale that made my heart sing! Over the course of 8 weeks, Raymond Imbeau and Barbara Kitz, collected 32,000 beer cans in the forest. They were cleaning up a stretch of road in the Okanagan frequented by offroaders, campers, and bush-partiers. These cans are often left, on-purpose, by lazy slobs (why mince words?) after bush parties and the like. Sometimes…they are left on accident. Only sometimes.
Ray and Barb then returned the cans and donated the funds – $3,200 – to the Central Okanagan Search and Rescue (COSAR). CAN you believe it?!
But wait, there’s more!
It turns out, this isn’t the first time the couple have adopted this can-do attitude (😉). They’ve been collecting other people’s bush empties and donating the funds for the last three years. That amounts to a sizeable $5,700 to COSAR. Hats off to Ray and Barb!
I would say I feel sorry for those bush-trashing goons. (Who obviously didn’t realize how much money was in those cans!. But, I don’t. Their loss, COSAR’s epic gain.
Have a Hope- and Light-Filled Week!
And that’s all she wrote, folks! Happy December. Can you believe there are only 15 more days until Christmas?! Jeez louis!
Here’s hoping your week is made a bit lighter by these stories. And, that you find bits of hope and light in your journeys through this dark month. This has been a helluva year but we can at least try to end it on a high note. Onward!
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