Making Waves!

Welcome back to The Ripple, a monthly blue newsletter by FutureSwell, specifically made for ocean people. This year is already (!) a big one, we can’t wait to share our round up with you.

We just launched Season 4 of the Sustainability & The Sea Podcast!

• To start off this new season we sat down with 12Tides to talk about how kelp can regenerate our oceans. Their CEO Pat Schnettler talks about his journey from a commercial fishing industry to developing a kelp based chip company working to promote conservation and regenerative ocean farming. 

  Listen now

• We followed with a conversation with SAILCARGO, a zero emission shipping company in Costa Rica pioneering the future of shipping goods.

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When Orcas ATTACK! - New YouTube Video

Next on our Marine Biologist Reacts series on YouTube is our reaction to orcas that have been attacking boats off the Iberian Peninsula in the eastern Atlantic last year. Orcas are incredibly intelligent apex predators that have a developed culture, family groups, and communication between pods. The orcas in the region have already sunk more than 20 vessels and scientists still do not know why. Joe Giglio also reacts to many other examples of the sheer power of orcas hunting in the wild. Watch here

Blue News

White House Pauses Permits for LNG Facilities

Last week the White House announced it would be pausing the approval process of new export terminals for Liquified Natural Gas, which is a huge win for climate advocates. The largest export terminal, CP2, was to be placed in Cancer Alley, Louisiana, threatening the safety and health of frontline communities in the area.

Local community organization, a national social media campaign, and a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of Americans all contributed to surmounting pressure on President Biden to pause permit approval.

Norway Votes to ALLOW Deep Sea Exploration 😢

This month Norway voted against scientific recommendations and approved the start of deep sea mining activities in the Arctic. The Arctic is a target for mining because of its diverse benthic environment hosting precious materials like lithium, scandium, and cobalt used in battery creation. Some advocates view this as a win because at this stage it is only exploration, but other warn this is a slippery slope to mining activities.

Drilling in the deep sea results in light and noise pollution, often devastating marine biota in the process. The caveat to the bill is that the parliament is committed to first investing in exploration of the deep sea to better understand limitations that should be placed on the mining activities. With more environmental surveys hopefully the Norwegian politicians will better understand impacts the invasive industry will have on their biodiversity and make modifications to the bill. Read more

New Study Shares Extent of Emissions Released from Bottom Trawling

Another disturbing result of bottom trawling and deep sea industries is the unintentional release of more than 370 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide gets stored in the bottom layers of the ocean via the biological pump and remains there for millions, if not billions, of years. However human activities that disturb base layers, bring up sediments, and mix CO2 into surface layers reintroducing it into the atmosphere. Additional CO2 in the atmosphere only exacerbates the greenhouse effects influencing global warming characteristic of the last century. Read more

New Twilight Zone DNA and Life Saving Drugs

Researchers have just recently finished cataloging more than 300 species of marine bacteria, viruses, and fungi with the intent to utilize their rare adaptations to create life saving medicines. The important drug penicillin was developed from a species of fungi in a similar method, scientists are hoping for brand new discoveries from their new data. The Twilight Zone is an incredibly harsh habitat in a deep layer of the ocean where light does not penetrate and species have developed unique adaptations not found anywhere else in the world. Read more

Ocean Careers

Join the ClimateTech Job Board

If you are more of a climate focused person wanting to pursue a career protecting all things on Earth, joining this job board is for you! Climate technology cover a wide array of opportunities including mechanical enterprises, sustainability mangers, project development, and field service experts. Careers in this field contribute a lot of data to environmentalists studying the environment and toward industry sustainability goals. Learn More Here

• Science Policy Fellowship, The Gulf Research Program - Gulf of Mexico

• Program Manager (Remote) - The Ocean Foundation, Washington D.C.

• Shark Ecology & Research Assistant - Center for Coastal Studies, Massachusetts

• Fish Passage Scientist, The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission - Oregon, USA

• Research Scientist, Bay Paul Center - Massachusetts, USA

• Marine Technical Internship Program, The U.S. Academic Research Fleet - Washington, USA

• Marine Engagement Internship, Community of Arran Seabed Trust - Scotland, UK

• 2024 Education and Research Internship, Hyannis Whale Watcher Cruises - Massachusetts, USA

Share your input on deep sea mining for a University of Washington studying public attitudes to the emerging industry. Your honest opinion can help contribute to expanding the social science lens of deep sea mining. Science-backed results like this survey are extremely valuable in policy campaigns to protect our ocean.