This tie-in companion to a gorgeously produced film about life under water and the challenges facing marine ecosystems develops and builds on social action themes presented in the film. Half the world's human population lives near an ocean coastline. The ocean's health is increasingly important. Rich with resources and potential (for energy, new drugs, drinking water), for years we have treated the oceans as both infinite and undamageable.
Yet threats from over fishing, climate change, pollution, acidification and more have put the world's oceans at increased risk. Oceans gathers some of most insightful and intrepid ocean lovers – marine biologists, politicians, environmentalists, fishermen, sportsmen, deep divers and more – in a unique anthology. Together they explore the complex relationship between humanity, its Ocean, and all the creatures that live within it. They also present a number of strategies and ideas as to how we might protect one of the world's greatest resources.
Writer and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster's recently completed high-def film – Terra Antarctica – documents a six-week long exploration of the Antarctic Peninsula by sea kayak, and is a finalist at the Blue Ocean Film Festival and winner of the "Ocean Issues" category. A six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council, his 2007-2008 Antarctic expedition was the final in his Oceans 8 project, which over the past decade has taken him and his teams around the world by sea kayak. Author of ten books (his most recent, Descending the Dragon about his travels in Vietnam was published in August by National Geographic Books & Wildebeest in a Rainstorm published by Menasha Ridge) and producer of a dozen documentary films, he also writes daily for his blog "Notes from Sea Level." When not on the sea Bowermaster lives in Stone Ridge, New York.