Revive Our Ocean Launches Our Sea in a Lifetime
Every generation inherits a different ocean—each one a little more diminished, unless we remember what once was and act to revive it.
Revive Our Ocean is kicking off Our Sea in a Lifetime, a new series that looks at stories of our ocean then, now, and what could be if we protect it.
Every generation inherits a different ocean—each one a little more diminished, unless we remember what once was and act to revive it. What will we pass on?
Nature moves on its own timescale. Some ecosystems take centuries to grow, yet they can be damaged in moments. Within a single human lifetime, we can lose sight of what once existed, a phenomenon known as shifting baselines, or “intergenerational amnesia,” where each generation inherits a diminished ocean and mistakes it for normal.
Select footage courtesy of National Geographic Pristine Seas and Open Planet
In one lifetime, we have witnessed the ocean, once thought to be too big to fail, change in ways we never imagined possible.
Revive Our Ocean, coordinated by Dynamic Planet, is kicking off Our Sea in a Lifetime, a new series that looks at stories of our ocean then, now, and what could be if we protect it. We’ll explore memories of our elders who remember seagrass meadows thick as carpets, fishers who recall nets heavy with fish, and proof that when we protect the ocean, it bounces back to life in ways we never imagined.
Because while a lifetime is long enough to witness profound loss, it is also long enough to bring the ocean back to life. In fact, when given the space to heal, the ocean can recover within a decade or less — boosting tourism, replenishing fisheries, and helping mitigate the climate crisis.