Seasick: Ocean Change and the Extinction of Life on Earth

by Alanna Mitchell

We have long lorded over the ocean. But only recently have we become aware of the myriad life-forms beneath its waves. We now know that this delicate ecosystem is our life-support system; it regulates the earth’s temperatures and climate and comprises 99 percent of living space on earth. So when we change the chemistry of the whole ocean system, as we are now, life as we know it is threatened.

In Seasick, veteran science journalist Alanna Mitchell dives beneath the surface of the world’s oceans to give readers a sense of how this watery realm can be managed and preserved, and with it life on earth. Each chapter features a different group of researchers who introduce readers to the importance of ocean currents, the building of coral structures, or the effects of acidification. With Mitchell at the helm, readers submerge 3,000 feet to gather sea sponges that may contribute to cancer care, see firsthand the lava lamp–like dead zone covering 17,000 square kilometers in the Gulf of Mexico, and witness the simultaneous spawning of corals under a full moon in Panama.

The first book to look at the planetary environmental crisis through the lens of the global ocean, Seasick takes the reader on an emotional journey through a hidden realm of the planet and urges conservation and reverence for the fount from which all life on earth sprang.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Environment, Natural History, Ecology, Book Club, Climate Change

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Alanna Mitchell is an award-winning journalist and author who writes about science and social trends. She is a global thinker who specializes in investigative reporting. Her most recent full-length book, Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis, is an international bestseller that won the prestigious Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment. Her one-woman play based on that book was nominated for a Dora Award and she toured across Canada. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Mitchell has spent years gathering information about how climate change is affecting the oceans. She has gone on undersea expeditions with the world's leading scientists in the field of oceanography. Abrupt climate change is happening and if we don't pass laws to turn things around the lives of future generations of human beings are in peril. A few of the things I learned from this book: 1) The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the result of a living system being pushed past its limits to the point that its chemistry goes wrong. The load of chemicals flowing into the Gulf from the Mississippi River and all its tributaries has disturbed the balance of plankton which have multiplied and produced what is known as the Blob. The Blob is massive, it is covering 17,000 square kilometres of the Gulf's floor and in places it is rising nearly to the surface. 2) The beautiful coral reefs of Puerto Rico are now only 20% of what they were only 4 decades ago. The other 80% are now rubble. The corals have been starved because the water is too warm for the algae which is needed for the coral to live. 3) The University of Michigan sponsored the research in the Gulf. Scientists from the U. of M. found the Dead Zone to be completely devoid of fish and of the zooplankton they feed on. 4) Other seas, the Black Sea and Baltic Sea also have these gigantic dead zones. Eventually when the seas become acidic enough and the carbonate ion concentration drops low enough, shell fish's shells and skeletons simply dissolve. We are looking at a marine armageddon.

[Nicole R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I firmly believe that climate is changing. There are many moral, religious, and political debates about whether global climate change is actually occurring, what the cause of that change is, and at what rate the changes are happening, but scientists overwhelmingly agree that change is occurring. What few people realize is that the oceans are taking a bit hit.

Mitchell does a great job of explaining many of the challenges facing our oceans in an easy to understand and accessible manner. She follows scientists from around the world as they conduct their research and gets first-hand insight to issues such as ocean acidification, changing current flows, and warming waters. And, as the 2010 winner of the Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment, other people must have felt the same way.

I really enjoyed that Ms. Mitchell chose to follow scientists that I actually know and with whom I have worked. Of the ones I do not know personally, I am very familiar with their research and publications - they are celebrities of science. I understood the science they were conducting and frustrations they felt with trying to convey the importance of their message to the general public.

What I did not like about this book was that I felt she took a very alarmist view. Do I think we need to change our environmental policies? Yes. Do I think that if we do not that we are in for a very uncertain future? Yes. But, I am also realistic and acknowledge that we are not going to change overnight. People have a hard time focusing on saving the oceans when they are unemployed, are recovering from natural disasters, or are struggling with illness. Unfortunately, the tone of Ms. Mitchell's book ends up coming off as a bit desperate, a bit hysterical, and she managed to actually bring out the skeptic in this believer.

Definitely an interesting and informative read that may provide more new information to readers not so entrenched in the marine field. Her personal interactions and stories with people and places adds a nice touch, but I urge you to have a companion read to this to balance out some of her bleak outlook.

[Amy Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible read. It amazed me, taught me so much, and scared the crap out of me. Mitchell outlines her expedition across the world's oceans in order to find out what is really going on. She paints the portrait of the ocean as one single entity that is ill, and she takes a brief but thorough and engaging look at each vital sign of the ocean: Oxygen levels, pH, metabolism and fecundity, as well as the Life Force of the ocean and how overfishing has affected the body as a whole. The lessons are harsh, and the future looks quite difficult.

I am reading this book at the right time. Currently, members of Congress and Republican Presidential Candidates in the United States are attacking the Environmental Protection Agency. They claim it is a bureaucratic, job-killing superpower that has been forever stamping on the constitutional rights of our wonderful and smart citizens. Any citizen who would believe that garbage deserves to be represented by garbage. It was depressing for me to read Chapter 8 about China. Although they are currently rapidly become one of the worst offenders, they also appear to be pushing toward a more conscientious age, priding themselves on how green technologies are being considered in industry. The United States, however, is being pushed further backwards to the dark ages. Politicians and citizens are hushing up the scientists who are being revered elsewhere in the world. Intellectual is a bad word. Science is a false prophet meant to dethrone Jesus. The apocalypse is coming, so we should all just look to the sky and pray for streets of gold. This is foolishness. And we are electing these foolish people to office. Where are the physicists, biologists and astro-biologists in politics? Have we become allergic to wisdom? I must say, I have a difficult time drumming up the hope that Mitchell pulls out of the magic hat in the final chapter. The United States just isn't with it, and I feel sorry for us.

I didn't mean to turn a review into a political rant, but I can't help it. Her book makes me happy that there are still good people out there, scientists and scholars who are really getting to the root of the issues and finding out everything we need to know. This book is insightful and well-done, and I think everyone should read it, especially young people. The science is not too difficult for those with a basic knowledge of scientific principles to grasp, but I do believe the basic foundation is essential in this case.

[Barbara Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Sea Sick is the first book to examine the current state of the world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet — and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them.”

Alanna Mitchell joins the crews of leading scientists in nine of the global ocean’s hotspots to see firsthand what is really happening around the world. Whether it’s the impact of coral reef bleaching, the puzzle of the oxygen-less dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico, or the shocking implications of the changing Ph balance of the sea, Mitchell explains the science behind the story to create an engaging, accessible yet authoritative account.”

This is a serious book about the effects humans have made upon the ocean. Early on in the book Ms Mitchell described a conversation with Tim Flannery wherein he related the ocean contained the switch of life. The switch can be turned off, and life as we know it will die. Humans will be forced to adapt to a new way of life.

In a middle chapter, Ms Mitchell relates information obtained from marine biologists at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia about the collapse of arctic cod due to over fishing. The study revealed that populations of the larger predator fish in the ocean have decreased by 90% in five decades since modern industrial fishing became popular. Those predator fish presently in the ocean are smaller than their earlier representatives.

As humans are a part of nature they need to take a serious and thoughtful look at the oceans, which provide most of the air humans breathe. Reading this book will help you become more aware of the path we have set ourselves upon: one of no return unless we do something to change the direction. The first step is for each human to make a concerted effort in their own life to change, and then to get others involved.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to anyone but be prepared to be scared! The reasons I loved this book is because Mitchell's writing style is so easy to read and so real. She wrote about all the problems with the ocean today in a way I could fully understand and therefore see the end result if we do not start to make a change. I also loved the chapters where she accompanied scientists on research missions around the world. It is something that I would love to do one day and I loved seeing it through her eyes. She is not a scientist herself so therefore she explains ever scientific thing in ways that I could understand and relate to. Mitchell obviously has a passion for the environment and she did a great job illustrating the problems humans have caused and pointed out what we need to change and quickly! From this book I have started to make huge changes in the way I live, the products I buy and use and the things I have around the house. I have even started a large pond in my backyard to grow fish in and use in my soon to be created aquaponics system. It's made clear that the problems we are facing today is an accumulative human problem therefore it needs to be an accumulative human solution. Everyone needs to do there part or things will just keep getting worse. I learnt a lot from this book, it was very eye-opening.

[Eric Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been six years since I read this book and it's had a lasting effect on my life. It had such a striking effect on me when that I stopped eating seafood after putting down the book. It was like a switch was flipped off. I loved sushi, salmon and many other bounties found within our oceans (including the Orange Roughy we used to eat when we were kids, but I just couldn't do it anymore. Before you say it, I know that the livestock industry has similar ethical and environmental issues which also need to be addressed, but that's an entirely different book...

Alana doesn't pull any punches as she relates the real changes going on in our oceans due to human activity. This topic is as relevant now as it was six years ago as coral reefs are continuing to die, the already huge dead zones in the ocean continue to grow and our fisheries continue to be exploited to the verge of collapse. It's difficult to grasp the scale at which our actions are causing these changes, but that's no reason to ignore it. The oceans are a vital part of our existence and if food chains collapse within them, we will see far reaching problems here on land.

[Doriana Bisegna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute eye opener of a book on the state of our oceans and their effect on our planet. Alanna Mitchell travelled all over the world to talk to leading scientists about how the ocean in that part of the world is faring with global warming and the results are dire and worrisome. I can honestly say that the book allowed me to grasp and understand more about our environment and how the ecosystem from ocean to land works, than all of the movies and literature I've read in the past. I thought An Inconvenient Truth was thought provoking, alarming and worrisome but Sea Sick takes it to a whole other level. The more informed we all are, the more of a difference we can all make to stop the destruction that we are causing to the place that life originated from...the ocean! This book is a must read!

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book! Mitchell does a great job explaining the science behind global climate change.

For this book, Mitchell travelled to nine different marine environments around the world and spent time with researchers. She clearly describes how humans are accelerating the degradation of the oceans through these examples.

She convincingly makes the case that the oceans are an integral part of the climate change dilemma and need to be addressed along with changes in the atmosphere before a climate tipping point is reached.

Mitchell won the 2010 Grantham Prize for excellence in environmental journalism for "Seasick."

[Gunsonm]

"Sea Sick: the Global Ocean in Crisis"
As it says on the dust jacket, "All life on Earth depends on the oceans. Most of the planet's oxygen is produced by phytoplankton in the sea - it is these humble, one-celled organisms, rather than te spectacular rain forests, that are the true lungs of the planet. And our climate, even on land, is controlled by the oceans, regulated by their currents, winds, and water-cycle activity." Good index, great bibliography; tons of references to current scientific research. A must read for anyone concerned about climate change and the state of our planet. Highly recommended!

[Alistair · Rating 4 out of 5]

The iconography of climate change is big: drifting smog clouds, melting glaciers, lumbering polar bears. But, for Alanna Mitchell, it is the little things that matter most: algae, shrimp, coral, plankton. These are the small heroes of the world's largest ecosystem, the ocean, and will be its first climate change victims. [Review continues at The Pequod]

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

You come away from this book with the realization of why taking action on carbon emissions, overfishing, pollution, etc., is absolutely vital. In each chapter the author travels to a different place to interview scientists working on different aspects of oceanic research, and cumulatively makes her case. Well done.

[Marce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and easy read of the current state of our Oceans. While I expected something a bit more wonky from what is almost required reading for me workwise, it is something anybody can pick up and get clued in.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing, terrifying read. Ignorance is bliss, and has inevitably allowed us to come close to the "point of no return". Perhaps with further blunt realities being spelled out for us we will, sooner than later, begin to change our destructive ways.

[Nikki Swieca Szoja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book, great overview of all of the different issues plaguing our oceans. Each topic addressed is short, sweet, to the point, giving you all the information needed to be informed without fluff.

[Margaret Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to know the facts on about our climate?

A very difficult read at times due to the concern that we are not doing enough to protect our planet. It tells the facts from marine biologists the world over very clearly however and is a must read.

[Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, uses analogies to compare the ocean to th human body. Alanna's observations and facts come from different parts of the world. Meaning it is a global problem. Goes in depth of explaining the chemical reactions in the ocean due to ocean acidification.

[Katrina Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chock full of information. Depressing. Important. Well written to boot. And ends with hope. Will become an integral part of the research informing my final project.

[Grace Pokela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is terrifying.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well worth the read and exposes a side if climate change that us not immediately obvious to land dwellers like us. I highly recommend this book.

[Foggygirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A facinating, alarming, and at times a sad read it nonetheless clearly illustrates how everything we humans do has extreme reactions on the land and in the sea.

[Katlyn Twidle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So important. So well described. Words that are attention-getting and yet, easy to understand. I am grateful for this read. Profoundly grateful.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot about climate change, but this is the first book I have found about the role the oceans play in whether Earth and we can survive. Let me summarize: the oceans are the key to our survival, but because of human activities, the oceans and ocean life are dying.

Scary stuff. I've been concentrating on the carbon we put in the atmosphere when we should be looking closer at the oceans.

Alanna Mitchell's writing style is accessible and doesn't overwhelm one with technical jargon. I highly recommend this book, with one reservation. It was written in 2009. With the speed at which climate is changing now, I would like an update on how our oceans are faring.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lure of Mitchell's curiosity draws you to look, and not turn away. You follow her around, hanging on her questions to oceanographers, fisherfolk, or deep-sea submersible crews. What she finds is far worse than global warming. These changes in the oceans are so disturbing that facing the evidence can turn your stomach. In exploring this beautiful but deeply endangered undersea universe, Mitchell assumes a vocation far beyond journalism. She quietly accepts being what none of us can escape being--one of the pilots of the whole starship, trying to see what survival requires.

[Maggie Dammil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book honestly influenced me to return to school and start a new degree in Marine Biology. It's such a powerful introduction to marine issues, why we should care, and the general beauty and mystery that the ocean presents. I loved the writing, I loved the stories, and I loved the adventure. I seriously recommend it to anyone interested in our world. I just graduated from my program, and I still think about this book often.

[Maris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice short overview of why climate change is bad for oceans. Nothing new if you’re already familiar with the topic.

[LibraryCin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alanna Mitchell is an environmental reporter. For this book, she travelled worldwide to ask questions of and be along for the ride with some scientists as they do their research. The focus is on the ocean, and how the health of the ocean can indicate the trouble our world is in from everything humans have done to tax it.

Mitchell travels to the Great Barrier Reef; explains plankton and what it means for the ocean; sees “the blob” in the Gulf of Mexico, where there should be life, but because of a lack of oxygen, there is none; investigates the pH level of the oceans; goes to see corals spawning; investigates fish farming; and more.

I found it very interesting. Some of it, I’ve head a little bit about before. I think she explains things in a fairly simple, straightforward, easy-to-understand manner. It’s a great book, that will hopefully open up people’s eyes to what we are doing to our planet, including to the life in the oceans surrounding us (and we are affecting the oceans much more than we might think).

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this point the science in "Sea Sick" is almost a decade old; that means there is a significant risk in the conclusions being off from what up to date info says. While "sea Sick" contains some of that, in most cases Mitchell errs in that things are mostly worse now than when she wrote the book. One of hte strongest features of the book is Mitchell's ability to make the science accessible to ordinary people. i'm not going to try to tell you what the book says. I will tell you that if you are interested in the changes our oceans are undergoing this is one book you want to read - especially if you are new to the field. If you have already looked at the problem of ocean change but were put off or confused by the "science" in other books reading "Sea Sick" will probably help get you back on track.

[Anna Brandes · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75. I think this book had a lot of potential because its such an important area of the climate crisis that is not talked about nearly enough (considering how much of our planet is covered by ocean). I don’t necessarily think it lived up to that potential because I didn’t come away with a much better understanding of the state of our oceans than I started with. The author also dumbed down the science so much that it was almost too basic for the general reader.

[Richard]

The CBC radio science program Quirks & Quarks broadcast an excellent interview with the author and the scientists she worked with while writing this book. It is available in MP3 format here, along with links and background information.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed some of what was in here, but was bored with some of it (as my education and other docs/readings already knew more than what was said here). I think if you don't know much about the ocean, this is a good place to start