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Reflections from Author and Filmmaker Jon Bowermaster

Where Blue Meets Blue

Now is not a time for complacency regarding any environmental concern. It is not a time for modest steps. Rather, now is the time for action. —Jon Bowermaster

Who isn't made blissful sitting at water's edge staring at the horizon, hypnotized by that delicate, nearly imperceptible-yet-somehow-distinct line where blue meets blue? Who among us doesn't count those solitary, sun-washed moments—whether afloat on a boat or feet dug deep into the sand—as among the favorites of a lifetime?

Cliché? Perhaps. But if the views off land’s edges are not the most soothing, the most renewing on the planet, why do so many of us flock there to live, to work, to rejuvenate. Which raises the issue of why is it that this planet is called Earth, when 75 percent of it is ocean? That this is not known as Planet Ocean speaks only to the ego of man, as it has nothing to do with reality. It also raises the question of exactly how many oceans there are. Go get your atlas. Inside you’ll find five mildly distinct bodies with labels: Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern. I, like most whose writing graces these pages, believe there are no real distinctions, that this big body of water encircling the planet is just one ocean.

Put me on the edge of, on or in the ocean at sunrise, sunset, under a blazing midday sun or even a small storm, and I am content. For the past 20 years I’ve managed just that, countless times. A variety of explorations have given me a unique perspective on both the health of the ocean and the lives of people who depend upon it. A meandering route has taken me from remote Bering Sea and Pacific islands, down the coasts of Vietnam and all of South America, around the various seas that surround Europe, parallel long sandy beaches in Gabon and India, and rocky ones in Croatia, Tasmania and Kamchatka. At each stop I have spent time with the people whose days are most defined and shaped by the ocean.

Sailor David de Rothschild, author of the "OCEANS" essay "Message in a Bottle," constructed a boat called Plastiki from disposable plastic bottles to highlight the tons of trash washed up on shores and in the ocean. Jon Bowermaster

My travels introduced me to some of the most intriguing ocean thinkers and doers around the world, and I tapped many of them for my latest book: "OCEANS: The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide." This compilation of 30 essays about the most important issues facing the ocean in 2010 is a companion to the new Jacques Perrin film called simply "OCEANS." (This French filmmaker is a true visionary: You may remember his "Winged Migration" and "Microcosmos.") In the United States, Disneynature is distributing "OCEANS" nationwide this Earth Day, April 22.

I truly think the book will stand for a long time as a kind of state-of-the-ocean document. With contributions from scientists Sylvia Earle and Carl Safina, policymakers NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives, conservationists Alexandra and Celine Cousteau, whale advocate Captain Paul Watson, filmmaker Ric O'Barry and other well-known members of the ocean community, the book addresses both our concerns and hopes for the ocean. This is something that humankind has efficiently disregarded. For centuries we've considered the ocean as infinite, casually using it as dumping ground and taking its most important resource—fish—with little thought about how long they would last.

American Museum of Natural History researcher Richard Ellis wrote about "The Bluefin's Uncertain Future"; for the book "OCEANS." Prophetic words, as although trade protection was sought for this fish popularly used in sushi, the proposal was defeated at CITES' Conference of the Parties 15. Fiona Stewart

The bottom line is that what happens to the ocean impacts each of us, whether we know it or not. As so many of the writers in the book suggest, so goes the ocean, so goes the human race. There is some hope for optimism, with marine reserves and both national and international laws in the works that may help make a difference. Let's hope they are enacted and enforced quickly enough that they can have an effect rather than just preceding an inevitable demise; around the globe, for example, far too often marine reserves have been set up only after nearly the last fish was taken.

The book is not intended to scare but, in the words of Jacques Cluzaud, co-producer of the film "OCEANS," to jolt! Now is not a time for complacency regarding any environmental concern. It is not a time for modest steps. Rather, now is the time for action. Hopefully you will find some clues in the pages of "OCEANS" for how you might change your individual life to help keep the ocean both viable and welcoming for centuries to come.