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AVAST YE DOOMSCROLLING; it is time for today's shanty thread. It's a tale of the ocean past, present, and future - and how our own future depends on it. 
Come all you young sailor men listen to me, and I'll tell you a tale of the fish in the sea...
Come all you young sailor men listen to me, and I'll tell you a tale of the fish in the sea...
The songs we know as sea shanties are mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries - and they are songs of their time, intertwined with slavery, colonialism, and exploitation.
In the U.S., these are the songs that were used in the Triangle Trade - and their origins are also African. I say more about that in this thread (thanks to @ayanaeliza for tagging me in!): https://twitter.com/MiriamGoldste/status/1349895442910367749
These are also the songs used in in the whaling trade - #shantytok's fave The Wellerman is about whaling, but so are so many others. "Bonnie Ship the Diamond" is one of my favorites - about whaling in Greenland. I love @TheJudyCollins' rendition.
But why were sailors from Peterhead (Scotland) going whaling in Greenland? To satisfy the global demand for whale oil, for lighting, and baleen, essentially used as a proto-plastic in consumer products like umbrellas. https://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/collection/AG_169283.01.html
Thus, whale populations in the Atlantic Ocean were decimated by the mid-19th century, and whalers moved to the Pacific and Indian oceans, as well as to the Antarctic. Look at this chart - whaling ships were everywhere.
That's what "Rolling Down to Old Maui" is about - whalers from the Atlantic going whaling in the North Pacific, and then stopping by in Hawai'i (the effect that had on the Native Hawai'ians was extreme, and a tale for another time).
But soon, whales declined and so did the industry.
So, Yankee ingenuity was turned to cod (and haddock and other groundfish).
And a toxic cycle of overfishing, financial ruin, and distrust was set into motion that continues to this day. (so much more at this @NOAA history: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/commercial-fishing/brief-history-groundfishing-industry-new-england)
And here's the thing. There are still no cod, compared to their former abundance. With the Atlantic warming faster than 99% of the rest of the ocean and cod are not expected to ever recover. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052018/fish-species-climate-change-migration-pacific-northwest-alaska-atlantic-gulf-maine-cod-pollock/
So, here's what I want to say. I love sea shanties. But I don't want them to be a prequel. I don't want to live in a hot, angry world where more and more desperate people are chasing fewer and fewer resources while preying on each other.
And THAT is why we need #OceanClimateAction.
So today, me, @jeanflemma & Anne Merwin from @OurOcean wrote a piece on 20 steps the Biden Administration can take for #OceanClimateAction. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2021/01/15/494669/ocean-climate-agenda-new-administration/
The new administration must take #OceanClimateAction to
recommit to climate leadership
reduce emissions & improve US climate resilience
decrease pollution & increase fuel efficiency &
protect marine life & the national ocean economy
Read how at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2021/01/15/494669/ocean-climate-agenda-new-administration/
recommit to climate leadershipreduce emissions & improve US climate resiliencedecrease pollution & increase fuel efficiency &protect marine life & the national ocean economyRead how at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2021/01/15/494669/ocean-climate-agenda-new-administration/
Our past should not be our future. We know what we need to do for #OceanClimateAction - get to net zero emissions as fast as possible, draw down the carbon already in the atmosphere, and remove as many non-climate stresses as possible.
I love shanties because I love the sea, its mysteries, and its history. We don't have to repeat the past. We can do better, and we must do better.
Admittedly, this is me now. Truly, I don't belong on #shantytok with the youths but hey, it sparks joy. /fin
