Introduction Even though I grew up in the flat dry prairie in the middle of Canada far from the ocean I dreamed of scuba diving and becoming a marine biologist I didn’t see the ocean until I was twelve when my family visited my grandparents in Maine I remember the salty smell and the endless view across the waves I spent hours at the shore checking out the crabs and clams the squishy sea cucumbers and the beached sea jellies with their stinging tentacles I went back to the prairie but the ocean wouldn’t let me go When I grew up and moved to the west coast to study biology I learned why Life on Earth started in the ocean The salt content of our blood and tears is similar to seawater In a way we are all ocean It was like my ocean magnet was pulling me back to where I started Humans haven’t been kind to the ocean We’ve used the ocean as a bottomless lunch bowl and as a garbage dump Walk along the seashore hop in a boat or dive underwater and you’ll see that the ocean is complaining In Dive In you’ll travel the Seven Seas and find out why the ocean matters whether you live on its shores or far inland Learn why the ocean is an amazing place and what you can do to keep it that way Are you ready to dive in I celebrate my birthday near the ocean whenever I can A NN ERIK SSON 6
Children age ten or older can become certified divers and have fun exploring marine ecosystems M A FELIPE IS TOCK COM My Marine Life I learned to scuba dive at age 19 in a swimming pool in Edmonton Alberta a thousand miles from the Pacific Ocean My first ocean scuba dive was at the Ogden Point Breakwater in Victoria British Columbia a designated marine sanctuary When I jumped in the water with all my gear on I was astonished by the sea life Colorful fish and sea anemones sea stars and even a baby wolf-eel I didn’t want to stop Since then I’ve been diving in the Pacific Atlantic and Indian Oceans I guess I’m a thalassophile a person who loves the ocean Diving in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico was a great adventure G PL A NGE 7
chapter ONE You Are Ocean With every drop of water you drink every breath you take you’re connected to the sea No matter where on Earth you live Dr Sylvia Earle Everything Is Connected to everything else I work in the scientific field of ecology which is put very simply the study of the home Home doesn’t mean your house it means the environment where you live the ecosystems that nourish and protect you and the rocks plants water animals air funguses and even the bacteria and viruses that live there too A famous ecologist named Barry Commoner wrote the Four Laws of Ecology to explain how the world works from an ecological point of view Children play in the sea near their remote village in the Solomon Islands E TH A N DA NIEL S SHUT TER S TOCK COM 8
1 Everything is connected to everything else 2 Everything must go somewhere 3 Nature knows best 4 There is no such thing as a free lunch The first law is the one I like best Everything is connected to everything else It means that there is only one planet and what affects one part of it affects all the other parts Whether you live on the top of a mountain in Switzerland at the edge of the sea in Tanzania or even in the middle of a desert in Australia the ocean affects you every day and you affect the ocean From the air you breathe to the amount of rain that falls on you your health depends on the health of the ocean And the health of the ocean depends on you Make a Splash K ELLY BA NNIS TER You can be an oceaneer Oceaneer is a word I invented to refer to a person who works in an ocean-related career If you tug on anything in nature you’ll find out that it’s connected to everything else SA M BROW N 9
