A Eulogy to the Mediterranean
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Dear earthlings,
As the climate intensifies everywhere, from peak temperatures in the Alps to floods in the desert, we ask you not to despair. It’s a moment of understanding what you can do your energy. We must all come together and do our part. Every single action counts.
🗞️ In Climate News
🔥Marathon Petroleum refinery, in Louisiana USA, catches fire after a chemical leak.
🌀 Mexico and California submerged in unprecedent flooding due to Hurricane Hilary.
🇨🇭 Zero-degree line at record height above Switzerland as heat and fire hit Europe.
💰 Fossil fuels being subsidised at rate of $13m a minute, says IMF.
🇯🇵 Japan releases Fukushima wastewater into the ocean, China bans all Japanese seafood.
📈 Cool Trends
♾️ eco-stories
🌊 A Eulogy to the Mediterranean
The sea, for me, is the place I go to for deep contemplation and connection. It’s where I feel suspended in time, as one with the elements, in touch with the deeper layers of my soul. Saltwater washes away my doubts, it heals my wounds, it quells my fears. Nothing compares to the sense of peace that pervades my senses when I’m submerged and surrounded by the graceful creatures of the mysterious blue.
I grew up with the Mediterranean Sea. It envelops every shore of Italy, and my childhood is etched with memories of the sun disappearing into its depths. Our family would look for a type of vongole in shallow waters, and collect the plastic lollipop sticks on the beach. I remember when I was ten, a dermatologist prescribed me the sea for my dry skin, and my parents made sure every once in a while my feet touched the Med to heal.
In my 20s my passion for the deep deepened, and I was very privileged to witness the beauty of several other seas. From the volcanic islands of the Pacific, to the mystic force of the Atlantic, and the abundant coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. As I traveled abroad in search of the euphoria I felt from a pod of dolphins swimming around me, I realised a disturbing truth: the Mediterranean is dying. The monk seals left, the whales rarely visit, the turtles avoid it, the coral has become jewelery, the schools of fish a by-gone memory, and its sharks are killed every day. Meanwhile, everyone in Europe happily refers to it as a swimming pool (including my past self).
A deep sadness overwhelms me now when I swim the empty blues of the Mediterranean, longing for a creature to swim with me. Perhaps it’s time Mediterraneans took responsibility for their dying Sea. Perhaps it’s time it was officially recognised as a swimming pool, a place of recreation devoid of the ecosystems that support life. Maybe then its human inhabitants will start regenerating what was once the enchanted sea of sirens.
🌏 The Culture Club
📺 What we’re watching: My Blue Country
📸 Profile of the week: @coralguardian
📚 What we’re reading: A Whale in the Desert, an essay by Tristan McConnell.
🤯 Scary fact we learnt this week: The Mediterranean Sea is the most overfished sea in the world.