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Life on the Rocks, by Juli Berwald, is narrative nonfiction book about the threats to coral reefs, including damage that has already been done by global warming, over-fishing, disease, and bombs, and efforts to preserve and restore some of the reefs.
The book is also part memoir. The stories about the coral, and about people who live near reefs and/or are trying to protect them, intertwine both with the trips Berwald took while doing her research, and with discussion of her daughter Isy's mental health problems, and some of her progress and setbacks.
And then it gets to 2020, and trips canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, including an Australian team racing to try a "cloud brightening" experiment with salt water spray, in order to cool the ocean water and buy some time in dealing with climate change. Berwald also talks about the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and the protests after Floyd's death, and discusses some of the connections between structural racism and climate change.
I was also interested by the (relatively recent) connections between hobbyists who keep aquariums, and scientists who study corals. The hobbyists had developed useful techniques for growing new coral from small pieces, which scientists and people working on coral restoration are now using, and getting specimens from hobbyists means they can work without further disturbing the reefs.
By the end, it's not clear what things will help, but it is clear that one of the things going on with coral bleaching is the coral [animal] interactions, how algae react to things like warmer water, and changes in which algae are living with/in a given species of coral.
The book is also part memoir. The stories about the coral, and about people who live near reefs and/or are trying to protect them, intertwine both with the trips Berwald took while doing her research, and with discussion of her daughter Isy's mental health problems, and some of her progress and setbacks.
And then it gets to 2020, and trips canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, including an Australian team racing to try a "cloud brightening" experiment with salt water spray, in order to cool the ocean water and buy some time in dealing with climate change. Berwald also talks about the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and the protests after Floyd's death, and discusses some of the connections between structural racism and climate change.
I was also interested by the (relatively recent) connections between hobbyists who keep aquariums, and scientists who study corals. The hobbyists had developed useful techniques for growing new coral from small pieces, which scientists and people working on coral restoration are now using, and getting specimens from hobbyists means they can work without further disturbing the reefs.
By the end, it's not clear what things will help, but it is clear that one of the things going on with coral bleaching is the coral [animal] interactions, how algae react to things like warmer water, and changes in which algae are living with/in a given species of coral.