From our dining room I watch Pacific waves meet the beach below the ever-evolving California cliffs. I’ve been lucky to call the oceanside home for five of the many places I’ve lived. Thanks to my mom and dad’s passion for the outdoors (and camping was cheap!), we kids were outside almost before we could walk. The childlike joy I found in observing nature has never left me. Looking at white-capped waves come and go, and the vast blue beyond, I remember exploring the shoreline with my dad: collecting seashells and driftwood; watching long-legged birds dance with the water rushing in and then bubbling away; and wishing I’d see a whale pop out of the deep. My upbringing led to a passionate knowing that nature must be protected. (“Save the Whales” was a familiar call that’s still relevant today.) I understand now how biodiversity supports our entire planet and that humans are capable of destroying—or cherishing—it.
“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” —Rachel Carson
This quote from Rachel Carson begins our film “Oceans: Lifeblood of the Planet.” Carson knew our potential to wreak havoc—having sounded the alarm on the indiscriminate use of DDT. A marine biologist, she was a keen observer and lover of the ocean, traits that began in childhood. Carson tickled the world’s imagination with a trio of sea-centric novels from 1941-1955 that unveiled early glimpses of the ocean’s hidden wonders. Bob Musil, President & CEO of the Rachel Carson Council, writes, “Before the Aqualung, before Jacques Cousteau and underwater photography, before the exploration and discovery of the ocean deeps in space-age vessels some seven miles below the surface, Carson’s prose brought the ocean alive and created a post-war generation of American lovers of the sea.” Her best-seller status afforded her a home near her beloved Maine seashore and woods—which is where she observed DDT’s destruction and penned the now classic “Silent Spring.” I thank her every time the pelicans soar in formation overhead, for they are one of many species we would have lost without her efforts.
For Force For Good’s film, “Oceans,” I had the privilege of boating to Catalina Island with Jonathan Sprout and the boat’s captain, Tim Hayes. It was a beautiful blue sky day for a trek across the channel and we got some great footage you’ll see in our film. That day I later learned that the sea lion I saw in the kelp, one flipper pointing to the sky, was not injured. He or she was just doing what sea lions do: resting with a flipper out to take in the sunshine’s warmth.
Our day exploring and filming the coastline reminded me how much I love to be on the water. Wind-tangled hair, stinging sunburn, water spray—bring it on! So when I received a very special birthday gift from my husband, I was ready: a 9-day ocean excursion to the gray whale nursery at Baja California’s San Ignacio Lagoon. In the very first 10 minutes exploring the lagoon, a whale suddenly shot straight up out of the water and breached right near our skiff, slamming back with a crash onto the water’s surface, showing us its belly. What a thrill! Yes, I finally saw a whale pop out of the deep blue!
Recently I’ve learned that a fight to protect the whale’s nursery habitat continues. “If we save the sea, we save the world,” says David Attenborough in his new film “Ocean.” I hope films like ours and David Attenborough’s continue to inspire people to connect with and protect nature, especially our planet’s “lifeblood.” Let our short film take you to “Oceans” for a few minutes and enjoy its wonder.
—Hillary Black, Editor
