If a Kelp Falls in the Forest and No One Hears…

The Climate Foundation is on a campaign to spread marine permaculture to all the waters of the world.

A wonder of nature, perhaps a metaphor for its magic, is that the planet’s most majestic forest grandeur is hidden from our view. Though this forest’s “trees” are taller than sequoias, they are invisible to us. They grow down, not up. Unburdened by having to fight gravity or thirst for fickle rain, they grow thirty times faster than their leafy cousins on land. You just need a snorkle, scuba, or a submersible to visit them.

From the warm shallows of Borneo to the icy waters off Greenland are unseen, underwater, vast forests of green. They are doing what forests do best — sheltering lifeforms large and small, providing food and fodder, sequestering carbon. Their nesting “birds” are manatees, whale sharks, dolphins and sea turtles.

Sadly, these forests are as much under attack by the hand of man as are their landed brethren. These giants tumble not by ax or chain but from heat, acid tides, microplastics, toxic runoff, abuse and neglect. But all the while, growing conditions are getting consistently better. According to a report this year in Nature, our blue planet is greening, and that is not a metaphor.