The book Sea Voices focuses on the current issues that we are now facing in our world oceans. It is educational, inspirational, and captivating. Sea Voices is also a call to arms. The style of the book is written in a “Question & Answer” format, so much of what is said is unpredictable, and at times even shocking. There are interviews from some of the top ocean experts in the world from Dr. Sylvia Earle, the most famous female oceanographer in the world, to Dr. Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic, Carl Safina the famous author and ecologist, Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the hit TV show “Whale Wars”, David de Rothschild, the British Adventurer, Alexandra & Fabien Cousteau, two of Jacques Cousteau’s grandchildren, Captain Charles Moore who first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a garbage collection area in the Pacific Ocean much larger than the state of Texas), and many other worldly ocean experts.
What makes the book so different is that the Healey’s chose to interview a wide variety of other people for the “Sea Voices” book too. They have interviewed Ten Time World Champion Surfer, Kelly Slater and other influential surf industry leaders, a group of musicians from Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Scarlet Rivera, Ziggy Marley, G-Love, Stefan Lessard from Dave Matthew’s Band, and environmentally conscious celebrities from Daryl Hannah, Ted Danson, Isabel Lucas, Sam Waterston, Kate Walsh, Q’orianka Kilcher, Keely & Pierce Brosnan, Shepard Fairey, to Yoko Ono! Other notable people include Telemundo’s María Celeste Arrarás, Bobby Kennedy, Jr., Amy Tan, Terry Tamminen, to Skateboarding’s top entrepreneurs, Pierre André Senizergues and Tony Hawk. They have even interviewed Royalty from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. There are well over 100 people interviewed from over 25 different countries, and over 25 different states to keep a global perspective.
Regardless of where one lives, the ocean directly, and indirectly affects each and every one of us. The ocean has given us life, and it is responsible for nearly two out of every three of the breaths we take. Nearly a billion people on the planet depend on the ocean and it’s fish as their primary source of protein and sustenance everyday. Hundreds of millions more are employed because of the ocean. The ocean is a place we often think about when planning a vacation, it’s a place that we surf, sail, snorkel and dive, water-ski, where we fish from, whale watch, or a place we simply go to relax or sunbathe. It is also a major transportation highway. The ocean has given us so much, and we have taken so much from the ocean, and it’s time we give back.
It is hard to believe that a place so grand in scale, could actually be hurting worldwide. Just by looking at it on the surface, it looks healthy, and seems so infinite. People have always thought of the ocean as an inexhaustible source of food, but we are finding out that that is simply not true. Overfishing is causing a serious imbalance in the eco systems, and something needs to be done about it. There are other issues that we face in the ocean as well like ocean acidification, shark finning, corral reef destruction, sea level rise, loss of biodiversity, and a global plastic problem that is hard to even imagine. Other ocean issues are discussed in the book as well.
Although the book points out a lot of the things that are wrong with the ocean, it speaks about a lot of the great things about the ocean too, and why we need to protect it. The good news is that the ocean is very resilient, and if given a chance it can recover. Marine Protected Areas are being assigned around the world right now and they are working.
The Sea Voices book indicates that if we all do our part, we can protect the very thing we all love so much. As the saying goes – “Knowledge is power”. One cannot fix a problem if they don’t know it exists, and it’s always better to find out how to take preventative steps in order to preserve something so special while there is still time.
The Sea Voices book is available online at www.SeaVoices.com, on barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, at Southern California coastal Costco stores, and various book sellers.
