FEATURE
W
e are experiencing a kind of collective trauma. How do we find our way through that? How do we heal? One of my favourite writers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, has written that if “we restore the land, we restore ourselves.” The same goes for water. If we restore the water, we restore ourselves; restore the ocean, restore ourselves. There is no quick fix and there are going to be many different ways to heal, but I do believe there is healing to be had in our connection to water. As a surfer and marine social scientist, my life is lived in intimate relationship with the ocean, exploring the power of the ocean to help us reconnect with ourselves, each other and nature. In the crises we face, the loss of our emotional connection with the more-than-human world, especially the ocean in all its wonder and aliveness, is of deep concern. There is no part of the ocean that remains unaffected by the growing and interconnected pressures from climate change, biodiversity loss and further degradation caused by human activities and pollution. In turn, the impacts of the ocean (and marine environmental degradation) on human health are poorly considered. Not to mention the roll-back on progress made to tackle plastic pollution, with the huge environmental and public health risk posed by the millions of disposable plastic face masks entering our waterways and ocean every minute. An interdisciplinary European collaboration called the Seas Oceans and Public Health In Europe (SOPHIE) Project, funded by Horizon 2020, has outlined the initial steps that a wide range of organisations could take to work together to protect the largest connected ecosystem on Earth. In a commentary paper published in the American Journal of Public Health, the researchers call for the current UN Ocean Decade to act as a meaningful catalyst for global change, reminding us that ocean health is intricately linked to human health. The paper highlights 35 first steps for action by different groups and individuals, including individual citizens, healthcare workers, private organisations, researchers and policy-makers, presenting opportunities for new alliances and partnership building. Many of these actions emphasise the need to link knowledge with practice in a way that supports and promotes a culture of care. This is even more relevant in light of the global pandemic, highlighting just how catastrophic the consequences of our societal disconnect from our natural place in the Earth’s systems
is and how essential the restoration of healthy, functioning natural ecosystems are for our survival. These first steps emphasise how essential holistic collaboration is to make an impact. For example: large businesses can review their impact on ocean health, share best practice and support community initiatives; healthcare professionals could consider “blue prescriptions”, integrated with individual and community promotion activities; tourism operators can share research on the benefits of spending time by the coast on wellbeing and collect and share their customers’ experiences of these benefits; or individual citizens can take part in ocean-based citizen science or beach cleans and encourage school projects on sustainability. The paper calls on planners, policy-makers and organisations to understand and share research into the links between ocean and human health and to integrate this knowledge into policy. It is commendable that Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin and Fáilte Ireland are finally investing funds into supporting the development of outdoor watersports, recognising the surge in year-round interest in these activities, especially since the pandemic began. The inclusion of the provision for wheelchair accessible facilities is especially welcome. Most of the emphasis is on physical infrastructure such as, “hot showers, changing and toilet facilities, storage, equipment wash-down and orientation points.” All are welcome facilities for the communities identified for funding, and although I agree with Minister Martin that Ireland is world-class when it comes to waterbased activities on offer along our “stunning coastline, rivers and lakes”, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was an exercise in greenwashing. If we are to “ensure the Irish experience meets and exceeds visitor expectations”, would it not be an urgent priority to also ensure we are not swimming, bathing, paddling or surfing in our own waste? Ireland’s water environments are in crisis with water quality declining and water pollution rising at an unprecedented rate, primarily driven by the intensification of industrial agriculture, biodiversity and habitat loss and raw sewage from towns and cities. More than half of our rivers, lakes and estuaries are in an unhealthy state, failing to meet ecological targets set by the EU’s Water Framework Directive. Last year, there were 350 days when swimming was banned at bathing spots across Ireland. What value can ‘wild swimming’ have when ‘wild’ places don’t exist anymore? What healing benefit can ‘surf therapy’ offer when raw sewage is being pumped into the sea?
Irish Wildlife Summer ‘21
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