How do you feel… about the ocean?
Do you have a sense of admiration for its beauty? Do you enjoy the many diverse dining options it brings to your plate? Are you fearful of its destructive nature, or intimidated by some of the many creatures that call this vast unknown home?
If you’re like me, and grew up inland, these questions… probably don’t matter too much to you. Far away from any coastline, it’s natural to not concern yourself with oceanic topics – we all have our own rich lives to lead, struggles to conquer, and things to be interested in, after all! But even if we aren’t aware of it, the ocean touches our lives on an almost daily basis. Not only does it provide us inlanders with food, but it also drives the weather patterns our agriculture and recreation depend on, it provides shipping routes to get us all of our cool stuff, and heck, it even generates half of the oxygen we breathe that keeps us alive! In return, our activities, choices, and policies inland run downstream – impacting the health of the ocean that provides us many of these crucial services.
That is to say: even inland, we matter to the ocean, and the ocean matters to us.
And that’s huge! Looking at JUST the United States, over 60% of its citizens live inland: that’s roughly 200 million people! We’re a real force of nature! We may not easily be able to go dip our feet in the sea, but each and every one of us is still inexplicably connected to its waters. Those ties, and how they work, however… are just a little more invisible (and a little more complicated) than most.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t be found!
My name is Dane Whicker, and I’m the host of Peak and Plunge, a new five-part podcast series produced in partnership with the Inland Ocean Coalition. Think of me as your… friendly neighborhood inland Aquaman – here to shed just a little bit of light on how ocean issues and inlanders are truly entwined! (But, like, in a fun way!)
Each episode, I talk to an expert in the field to examine inland-ocean ties through our seafood, our agriculture, our climate, our use of plastics, and even how, from the top of a mountain, your future might be reliant on potatoes from the deepest reaches of the ocean floor.
So how about it? Are you ready to begin the treasure hunt?
Check out the first episode here
Check out episode two here
Check out episode three here