Nice. Thanks to Andy too then. Really enjoy your work, Jason! I'm envious of your time in Antarctica. I'm part of a NZ-based research programme called the Antarctic Science Platform, but haven't managed to get down there myself given I just model things, but my PhD student did, which was great.
It's been an age since I was on the ice, but it's always with me. I do hope you find your way south, Jonathan. Modelers need to occasionally go out and ground-truth their work, right...? There's nothing like a good wide-ranging stint on the ice.
I wonder what the decimation of U.S. science, and polar programs in particular, will mean for the NZAP. I suppose much of McM will be empty if the NZ program wants to expand... but I worry that your logistics will be impacted too.
Yep, there's a lot in flux at the moment. A lot of NZ's efforts/logistics/money right now is going into the Scott Base redevelopment. So harder to get a berth down there these days while that's happening. Our science platform programme is operating under the next tranche with a smaller budget which makes things hard too.
And yes, definitely need to ground truth my model predictions. Didn't actually want to go down last time as the kids are still young and hard to go down there for just a couple of weeks at a time. As the kids get older though -- definitely!
Thanks you for bringing us this in depth look at ocean floor mining. It’s heartbreaking to watch our “business as usual” mindset keep plowing ahead without thought for life.
As a species we must figure out "what are people for?" Wendell Berry posed that question I believe and it's a deep one to which we have no answer. What are we here for? Until we know, we are destructive Interlopers on our own planet.
It's a beautiful question, Michael. Perhaps a good way to begin to answer it is by assuming that we have no great civilizational purpose or quest, and instead embrace a sense of restraint and modesty about simply fitting in or, at the least, doing no harm. The parallel question we might ask about any other species - What are pangolins for? What are lobsters for? etc - reminds us that we're part of the mix rather than above it.
Thanks for sharing this Jason. I learned a lot! And thanks very much for the shoutout! Glad you liked the post.
Of course, Jonathan. And I should have mentioned that I first got wind of it via Andy Revkin's post.
Nice. Thanks to Andy too then. Really enjoy your work, Jason! I'm envious of your time in Antarctica. I'm part of a NZ-based research programme called the Antarctic Science Platform, but haven't managed to get down there myself given I just model things, but my PhD student did, which was great.
It's been an age since I was on the ice, but it's always with me. I do hope you find your way south, Jonathan. Modelers need to occasionally go out and ground-truth their work, right...? There's nothing like a good wide-ranging stint on the ice.
I wonder what the decimation of U.S. science, and polar programs in particular, will mean for the NZAP. I suppose much of McM will be empty if the NZ program wants to expand... but I worry that your logistics will be impacted too.
Yep, there's a lot in flux at the moment. A lot of NZ's efforts/logistics/money right now is going into the Scott Base redevelopment. So harder to get a berth down there these days while that's happening. Our science platform programme is operating under the next tranche with a smaller budget which makes things hard too.
And yes, definitely need to ground truth my model predictions. Didn't actually want to go down last time as the kids are still young and hard to go down there for just a couple of weeks at a time. As the kids get older though -- definitely!
Thanks you for bringing us this in depth look at ocean floor mining. It’s heartbreaking to watch our “business as usual” mindset keep plowing ahead without thought for life.
Without thought for life, indeed. There's far too much of that going around right now. Thank you for the comment, Leah.
Indeed.
As a species we must figure out "what are people for?" Wendell Berry posed that question I believe and it's a deep one to which we have no answer. What are we here for? Until we know, we are destructive Interlopers on our own planet.
It's a beautiful question, Michael. Perhaps a good way to begin to answer it is by assuming that we have no great civilizational purpose or quest, and instead embrace a sense of restraint and modesty about simply fitting in or, at the least, doing no harm. The parallel question we might ask about any other species - What are pangolins for? What are lobsters for? etc - reminds us that we're part of the mix rather than above it.