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1 Introduction
Living with the sea: knowledge, awareness and action
Mike Brown and Kimberley Peters
In late 2017 the United Nations created a new resolution to tackle the growing issue of plastics and the pollution of the worldās oceans. It would be one of the most significant, although not legally binding, acts of the twenty-first century for seeking to change how we live with the sea (UNEP, 2017). With the launch of the popular television programme Blue Planet also charting the devastating effects of our āplastic planetā (Honeyborne and Brownlow, 2017), alongside international research highlighting the continued growth of the āGreat Pacific Garbage Patchā (Lebreton et al., 2018), the state of our seas and how we live with them has been brought into stark focus. In recent years we have witnessed other continued and increased strains and stresses on the 70 per cent of our world that is water. Research has attended to the detritus left by cruise liners (Lamers, Eijgelaar and Amelung, 2015); the invasive species that can emerge through emptying vessel ballast water (Holbech and Pedersen, 2018); the toxic waste of ship breaking (Demaria, 2016); and the carbon footprint of the container industry (Cidell, 2012). Beyond environmental harm alone, recent years have witnessed the desperate and horrifying realities of refugees travelling across treacherous seas (Coddington, 2018; Jones, 2016; Vives, 2017); the growing trade in sea space and sale of deep-sea mining exploration licences (Van Dover, 2011); the threat to vulnerable coastal communities through sea-level rises (McLean and Kench, 2015); the conflict over territory with the creation of artificial islands (Dolven et al., 2015). The list goes on. Now, more than ever, there is a growing acknowledgement that āour world is an ocean worldā (Langewiesche, 2001,1) but also that our ocean world is threatened ā environmentally, socially, politically.
This acknowledgement has led to an āoceanic turnā slowly emerging across the humanities and social sciences, with a burgeoning of academic work which takes seriously the place of seas and oceans in understanding socio-cultural and political life, past and present (see Mack, 2013; Ryan, 2012; Singer, 2014; Steinberg, 2001). This is alongside a continued development of ocean sciences: marine biology, oceanography and sea-based ecology. All this work is essential if we are to address concerns that have been raised about modern societiesā lack of attention to the seas that surround and sustain us (Hauāofa, 1998).
As editors of this collection we have contributed to this nascent oceanic project through the publication of edited works including Waterworlds: Human Geographies of the Ocean (Anderson and Peters, 2014) and Seascapes: Shaped by the Sea (Brown and Humberstone, 2015). A key feature of the recent work in the humanities and social sciences has been to explore the seas and oceans as a āfundamental space of human experienceā (Steinberg, 2015, xii). Indeed, one of the central questions that has arisen is: how have, and do, humans engage with the more-than-human, mobile, encompassing, yet volatile space of the sea? (Braverman, 2015; Lehman, 2013; Peters, 2012; Steinberg, 2001). To date this question has been answered by drawing attention to the ways we engage with the sea through social constructions and representations of the oceans (in paintings, literature, maps and film, see Mack, 2013; Singer, 2014; Steinberg, 2001); through embodied practices and performances (from diving, to surfing, to sailing, see Brown and Humberstone, 2015); through work, trade and politics (see Anderson and Peters, 2014; Birtchnel, Savitzky and Urry, 2015; Cowen, 2014; Urry, 2014); and through policy and planning (Arico, 2015; Jay, 2008). What this existing body of work has achieved is a formidable and wide-ranging understanding of the seas and oceans, historically and in the contemporary climate, across a range of disciplines from history to planning, geography to cultural studies, anthropology to remote sensing, politics to the study of outdoor education.
Although highlighted above, it is beyond the scope of this introduction to review all of this literature in depth, though overviews are offered in individual chapters to follow. What is apparent, though, is a gap in this literature concerning the ways in which we engage with seas and oceans with a will to inspire action and evoke change. There have been excellent discussions of changes, frameworks and management techniques that attend to the human and physical plights that are shaping and impacting our oceans (see, for example, Arico, 2015). Such work, however, has lacked an embodied, personal account of how we interact with our ocean world and how these relations connect to our knowledge, awareness and action. This has been covered in some more popular literature (see Danson and DāOrso, 2011; Helvarg, 2010; Honeyborne and Brownlow, 2017), but it has yet to be taken on as a comprehensive, wide-ranging inter- and cross-disciplinary project for academics.1 That is the gap this book seeks to fill.
An unusual project
The question of how we might write with and for the seas gave rise to a small conference hosted in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, aboard a former round the world race yacht, owned by the New Zealand Sailing Trust. The genesis of this idea arose following the publication of Seascapes (Brown and Humberstone, 2015). Would it be possible to gather an international group of scholars with an interest in the sea and provide them with an experience of living together and being on the sea for a limited period? If so, what might be the contribution? The initial call for expressions of interest simply stated:
Seascapes 2016 provides a unique opportunity for scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to share research around the theme of living with the sea. The conference welcomes papers that will advance knowledge of our relationship with the sea and that have the potential for increasing awareness and action in the human and more-than-human environment ā¦ Being prepared to live on board for 3 nights and be involved in communal living is an integral component of this conference.
(Email, Mike Brown to potential participants)
The āvenueā was the 80-foot yacht Steinlager 2, which became famous in the sailing world when the crew of the vessel won all six legs of the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race under the command of the late Sir Peter Blake (Figure 1.1). Following his yacht racing career Sir Peter became involved in expeditions aimed at raising environmental awareness and he was appointed as a special envoy for the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). It was while in the Amazon in late 2001 that his vessel was boarded and he was killed by armed robbers. Steinlager 2 and Blakeās previous boat Lion New Zealand are currently owned by the New Zealand Sailing Trust, whose inspiration comes from the adventures of Sir Peter, both as a leader of racing teams and as an environmental activist. The Trust exists to ensure that these key yachts are preserved and sailing voyages are conducted to help inspire the next generation to achieve their aspirations.
Figure 1.1 Steinlager 2, Kawau Island. Photo by Mike Brown.
The format of the āfloatingā conference was a combination of sailing, social time, explorations ashore, and the presentation and discussion of papers ā each an academically and personally situated contribution ā that had been circulated prior to our meeting. At times throughout the trip we would gather in the cockpit of the vessel, or below decks if the weather was inclement, and listen and provide feedback on the draft chapters of what has now become this book. This proved to be a supportive and fruitful initiative. Given the intimate nature of the gathering, the intention was to foster a sense of community and provide the opportunity to discuss and refine ideas, rather than to ādeliverā a paper. As an outdoor educator who had previously been involved in sail training, Mike knew that the mere fact of being in a confined space, and being called upon to assist with sailing the boat and to help with the preparation and sharing of meals, would create a sense of community and familiarity that is difficult to cultivate in the ātraditionalā conference format. People would often chat in pairs or small groups ā sometimes this was related to the theme of the conference and at other times matters of a more general nature. Given the amount of laughter on board, there were certainly a few jokes or funny anecdotes being retold. When sailing, we were required to assist with hoisting the sails, steering the boat and trimming the sails to keep the boat moving efficiently. When anchored, people could go for a walk ashore, swim or relax on board with a ācuppaā.
Emerging from a very particular setting, this book, then, is not a āconventionalā edited book. It is not a collation of chapters resulting from an established conference setting, or a dedicated call for contributions. It is a product of a time and a place, and an engagement of scholars who span a vast array of disciplines ā science and social science ā and who embrace qualitative and quantitative approaches. It is a result of the engagements of scholars who are at differing stages of their academic careers, from postgraduates to professors, as well as those who work beyond the academy, in policy, planning and architecture. At the heart of this book, and of the floating conference from which it developed, was a desire to engage in conversation. This book is a dialogue reflecting the varying conversations we had on the vessel about how we live with the sea; how we build knowledge of the sea, awareness of contemporary issues regarding this space and how we may bring about action for positive change.
As such, this book has not been easy to curate; nor should it have been. There are many different voices, styles and approaches. But to better understand how we live with the sea ā to build knowledge, awareness and action ā we arguably need to bring different academic subjects, policy approaches and personal perspectives together, blurring the boundaries between these so that we may come into conversation about the pressing issues related to our seas and oceans. Whilst there could be more engagement across the scienceāsocial science boundary in this project specifically, here we present the beginnings of such efforts. In order to attend to the issue of ocean plastics, for example, it is not just scientific evidence of ocean currents and ecosystem degradation that is needed, but also knowledge of how we may educate and inform future generations of how they might act in relation to purchasing, reusing and recycling plastics. This is a conversation that requires bringing together different scholars, with differing epistemological and ontological backgrounds.
Although this book is divided into discrete chapters, which each take on various approaches, advances, engagements and experiences with the sea, they sit together under the umbrella of this volume. Each chapter is not just a product of the author(s), but a product of being with the sea, being with each other on the boat. They are a result of cross-disciplinary debate and informal conversation. The book, in turn, has been organised to enable the reader to dip their toes into the water and into these varying disciplines, approaches and perspectives and to read them in situ. The book itself, in sum, does not sit under a singular discipline; it melds and blurs boundaries, much like the sea itself. Indeed, although the chapters may in themselves appear to sit in neat boxes, their contents often spill over, mixing literatures and methods. As such, whilst this is a book where chapters may be read independently by those interested in ocean heritage, planning or seafarersā working lives, each chapter also introduces a broader set of ideas and debates. The structure is also designed to encourage readers to move across chapters ā to join our conversation ā to take their knowledge, awareness and actions in relation to the sea into uncharted waters.
We were fortunate to attract an international gathering of attendees from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds to the conference, and resultantly to this book. That said, as the book is a product of a time, a place and an event, Aotearoa New Zealand is prominent in it, alongside chapters which take the reader to waters off the United States, Britain, Kiribati and Iran. The strong New Zealand focus of the collection is, however, important. On the one hand, as an island where many people live in such close proximity to the sea (see Chapters 3, 5 and 11), New Zealand offers an ideal thinking space for this project: of bringing people into touch with the sea to make sense of our connections to and responsibilities towards it. On the other hand, much literature on the seas and oceans that has formed part of the āwatery turnā in contemporary scholarship has focused stubbornly on the Global North. Work has long examined the Atlantic, North Sea and Mediterranean (see Armitage and Braddick, 2002; Braudel, 1966 [1995]; Gilroy, 1993; Peters, 2015; Rediker, 2007; Steinberg, 2001) at the expense of other seas and oceans. In spite of recent attention to Indian Ocean worlds (see, for example, Davies, 2013), the Global South remains neglected. This book therefore offers an important corrective.
The book that follows is a testament to the adventurous spirit and willingness of participants of the conference ā the contributors to this book ā to step outside the norms of academic work. It is this that has enabled us to bring to fruition such a wide-ranging text. What underpinned the success of this venture was the attendeesā united passion for the well-being of our planet, based on a deeper understanding of peopleās relationship with the sea as a desire to bring about a change from our current trajectory. That is not to say the book is without its limits though. Of course, the economic means to travel, the physical ability to go offshore and the professional opportunities to work within settings which allow the time to engage in the pursuit of a boat-based conference is a privilege not all of those who live with the seas can enjoy. It is important to acknowledge that the conversations we had were partial and incomplete. It is also important to note that voices were absent. Whilst some chapters bring to the surface unheard stories and overlooked realities from our seas (see Ch...
