A World Ocean Ethos
An ethos is defined as “the spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.” In my 2015 book, The Once and Future Ocean, I propose that access to the ocean/freshwater continuum be acknowledged as a universal human right and that we establish a new paradigm by which we organize and express our beliefs and aspiration around the creation of a “new hydraulic society.” That proposal, now further expanded as a plan for RESCUE through the last thirty editions, remains a vital system of values, structures, and behaviors for your consideration in response to the disrupted conditions we face in our work today — through climate, health, security, equity, justice, community, and survival.
I wrote then: “Hydraulic means water in motion. That effort, measured by natural, economic, political, and social scales, is the force that drives civic action — movement — backward in conflict, forward as change, that determines the success of what we call civilization. The purpose…is to articulate what be a functional idea, a re-invention that, if accepted, inspires our best selves toward a logical and authentic course for the future.
We are experiencing a spasm of historical change that must not oppress us, but rather to inspire us to move from vulnerability and despair to change.
There are “many examples of creative movement toward this new paradigm… and many more examples evinced by the efforts of individuals in their towns, states, and national governments… What is most encouraging is that these activities are local and simultaneously international, that they are not just confined to the most developed places, but are in fact being initiated and adopted in the developing world where policy and action can transcend outmoded practice and technologies and ascend without complication to a future beyond. African nations, for example, can move to wireless communications beyond the wired infrastructure, to solar energy beyond oil and gas, to agricultural and irrigation methods that maximize available resources and production, and to fresh water supplies that are adequate, affordable, sustainable…for all. The associated reallocation of capital, recalculation of value, and re-organization of management structures and political entities around the realization of a new hydraulic society can guarantee an enduring democratic standard for individual and collective commitment as expressed in our response to a global imperative to conserve and maintain water in all its forms for the benefit of all mankind.
Those words were written eight years ago, and subsequent action, despite committed science and definition of requisite policy, has been limited. I reiterate the UN Secretary General’s emotional characterization of our present state as “too little, too late.” To accelerate the urgent, necessary response demands a determined re-statement of vision, re-presentation of a plan to get there, and repetition of an urgent exhortation to take matters in our own hands for our own — and the world’s — best interest.
There are allies among us working hard toward these goals — Regeneration X, for example, a web-based community of thinkers exploring ways to put “life back at the center of our governance, economy and education,” as an expression of “nature’s way.” “Regeneration,” they write, “is a revolutionary act in a time of extraction, domination and division. It’s a legacy action that future generations will look back on as the spark that ignited a thriving future society.”
I have begun to wonder about the perspective implied in the prefix: re. To regenerate is to become formed again, to return to a previous condition. Will restoration actually meet and serve our need? Is back to the future even possible? Or even the best way forward as transformational change? Should we not be using the forward-looking pro as in a distant view, as forward-looking, as into the future? Should not our best perspective be prospective? And what about our focus here: RESCUE means to “cast off,” to “protect,” to “keep safe and free,” to “deliver” us from our past and present. This is more than nuanced etymology: it is our chosen meaning, as a future vision, our preferred ethos in the form of a precise plan proposed and promulgated here: as pro-RESCUE:
R for renewal E for environment S for society C for collaboration U for understanding E for engagement.
PETER NEILL is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the world ocean. He is also host of World Ocean Radio, upon which this blog is inspired. World Ocean Radio celebrates 15 years this year, with more than 680 episodes produced to date. The full RESCUE series can be viewed at World Ocean Observatory.org under the SOLUTIONS theme.
