Documentary Film Looks at Ocean Acidification from a Personal Perspective
Barry Reichenbaugh
OAR Communications Office
February 27, 2009 — Imagine a World Without Fish —that’s the tagline for a Web site set up by the producers of “A Sea Change,” a soon-to-be-released, full-length documentary film that may do for ocean acidification what former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” did for climate change.
Image from “A Sea Change” Trailer. Photo credit: http://www.aseachange.net/.
Anyone who has had fish as pets knows that changes in pH levels can destroy life in an aquarium. The same is true in the ocean. About one-third of carbon emissions generated by human activities has been absorbed by the world’s oceans. At a current uptake rate of 22 million tons a day, ocean absorption of carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas linked to global warming — is lowering the pH, causing what is known as “ocean acidification.”
The first public showing of the 84-minute film is set for March 14 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., as part of the DC Environmental Film Festival. Details on the March 14 screening are available at http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/. Additionally, in what the filmmakers describe as a “grass-tops effort,” the first of many yacht club screenings will be at the New York Yacht Club, and the producers are lining up other venues.
Researchers Chris Sabine (far right) and Richard A. Feely, both with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, are interviewed beside the world’s first dedicated ocean acidification mooring for the documentary film “A Sea Change.” Photo credit: Niijii Films by Daniel de la Calle.
Produced by Sven Huseby, a retired teacher and headmaster, and filmmaker Barbara Ettinger of Niijii Films, the documentary took two years to put together. The film features Huseby, born in Norway to a family that ran a fish market and worked for years in the fishing industry. Looking to share his family’s history with his grandson, Huseby retraces his roots and visits fishing villages to discover cultural, ecological, and economic changes taking place. Huseby seeks out a variety of perspectives on ocean acidification and considers how the world will adapt.
“A Sea Change” was produced in partnership with Sailors for the Sea, a nonprofit organization that educates and empowers the boating community to protect and restore our oceans and coastal waters. Private foundations provided additional funding.
Image from “A Sea Change” Trailer. Photo credit: http://www.aseachange.net/.
Richard A. Feely, senior scientist at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., is one of the world’s leading researchers on ocean acidification, and was interviewed for the film. He said it “makes a strong connection” between impacts of ocean acidification on the marine plants and animals at the base of the food chain and the fish and other animals at top of the food chain.
“The film presents a problem and ends with a vision that we should move forward with significant changes in our energy use options, and that the next generation will lead this effort,” Feely said. “And they will.”
Richard Spinrad, NOAA assistant administrator for oceanic and atmospheric research, said one of the film’s unspoken messages to younger generations is “come work for NOAA and help solve this ocean acidification problem.”
A three-minute trailer for the documentary frames the issue of how carbon dioxide is radically reshaping the world's oceans. The trailer describes the impact of large quantities of carbon dioxide added to the ocean and the resulting decrease in the ocean’s natural pH level.