Singing the blues
A Blue New Deal: Why We Need a New Politics for the Ocean Chris Armstrong (Yale, £20)
THeweather is very changeable today. Sunny one moment, the sea a sheet of burnished gold, dark the next, as a heavy squall sweeps in off the Atlantic and turns it slate grey. The air coming in through my open study window smells of seaweed and salt. In a few weeks’ time, we will be able to put the boats into the water and, a few weeks after that, we’ll be able to start swimming again. For most of my life, I have lived within a stone’s throw of the sea. When I am away from it, I feel uneasy. If I couldn’t live close to it, I would be bereft.
Yet, despite my love affair with the sea, when I received a copy of this book with its rather worrying subtitle, I will admit I didn’t rush to read it. As a trustee of a large conservation charity, I am knee deep in what I privately call ‘gloomy green literature’: books that describe the various environmental ills to which the world is (or will shortly be) prey. Books that frequently make me feel frustrated, hopeless and despondent.
It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise to discover that A Blue New Deal bucks the trend. True, it opens with a pretty grim summation of the state of the world’s oceans, which, in the past three decades, have witnessed greater damage than in all of human history. Indeed, Chris Armstrong, a professor of political theory, warns that if action isn’t taken soon, the oceans will stop doing their work of supporting life on earth. Unsurprisingly, he also has plenty to say on such topics as climate change, overfishing, pollution, habitat loss and irresponsible commercial exploitation (fishing boats with mile-wide nets, deep-sea mining and rubbish disposal for starters), as well as the unfair way in which the ocean’s resources are exploited by rich countries and multinationals. I was shocked to learn that a single company has registered almost half the patents arising from marine genetic resources.
So far, so bad. Happily, however, two factors make this book readable and even, believe it or not, enjoyable. First, Prof Armstrong is a gifted storyteller. A good example is his chapter on freedom at sea and the way in which the law ‘licenses the largely unrestricted appropriation of resources’. He provides a fascinating history of how different civilisations have viewed the sea, starting with the ancient Romans, taking in the 17th-century ‘Battle of the Books’ (in which Hugo Grotius and John Selden argued about whether or not the sea could be owned) and ending up with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Along the way, he ponders on everything from the moral interests of sea creatures to the management of the Dutch East India Company. Indeed, his knowledge of all things salt water—what minerals are found on the seabed, how dolphins communicate, why it is four times better for the environment to plant mangroves than trees— is deeply impressive.
Second, Prof Armstrong offers hope—the ‘new deal’ of the title. He points out that emerging ocean industries, such as renewable energy and aquaculture, could, literally, save the world. If only 5% of the American coast was devoted to seaweed farms, for instance, they would absorb as much carbon as is emitted by 30 million cars and would provide a barrier against rising sea levels. He explains how 80% of the world’s oceans could easily be protected from human interference and proposes the creation of a world ocean authority. It’s heady, optimistic stuff.
When I was growing up, my father used to sing a 1930s hit in the bath: ‘We joined the navy’— although he didn’t, as it happens —‘to see the world and what did we see? We saw the sea…’ The first verse ends: ‘But the Atlantic isn’t romantic, and the Pacific isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.’ Words that will turn out to be prophetic if we sea lovers don’t take action. What action? An excellent start would be to invest £20 in this informative, engaging book and perhaps, when you have finished with it, to send it on to your MP.
He proposes the creation of a world ocean authority. It’s heady, optimistic stuff