I so appreciated this article in The Conversation, about Antarctic tour guides who are quitting their jobs because tourism, which used to be more about seeing the wonders of the continent, is now more about seeing it before it melts — despite these same visitors apparently doing very little to help the last continent avoid this fate (“While tour operators often argue that visiting Antarctica can heighten tourists’ awareness of environmental issues, former guides were struck by guests’ ignorance of human impacts”).
“For anyone interested in nature, few jobs sound more enviable. You spend months among penguins, orcas and glaciers, helping visitors experience one of the world’s most extraordinary and unspoiled places.
But for some guides … [w]atching climate change unfold while helping thousands more visitors reach the continent eventually led them to leave the jobs they’d once dreamed of.”
Antarctic tourism is definitely growing way too fast; when I visited in 2004, there were 20,000 visitors a season — last season, there were 120,000. Within a decade, the continent is predicted to see 450,000. Which is astonishing (not in a good way).
One former tour guide said: “Very often, for long periods of time, the penguins had maybe a few hours’ break during the night. Otherwise there were hundreds of people walking through the colonies non-stop.”
This is an important article, especially for anyone who’s considering a visit to Antarctica. As one guide said, “To this day, Antarctica … stays in the forefront of my head as the most incredibly raw environment that deserves all the care and protection. And I just think tourism and us being there was doing the opposite of that completely.”
If you’re interested in saving the planet, by all means, go to Antarctica if you can. Learn about the effects of human-induced climate change on this magnificent continent and the animals who live there. Learn why we cannot consume seafood and krill supplements while also expecting to see penguins a decade or two from now. Learn everything that’s at stake and why it is so incredibly important to turn things around before it’s too late … then come home and be the change our planet needs.
There’s a scene in Floreana in which Mallory — a penguin researcher returning to the field after a decade away — tells her intern Hannah about the effects of weather on the lives of Galápagos penguins. Though this scene is fictional, the information about the weather and the penguins is real.
“One of the reasons these penguins are endangered is climate change, right?” I say. “Two weather patterns affect them—La Niña, which we’re experiencing now, and El Niño, which has become both more frequent and more severe.” I wave my arm toward the water. “Normally, the cold currents bring the fish and crustaceans to the surface, which is great for penguins. But during El Niño, the water is warmer, which means this food isn’t available. During the last really bad El Niño, back in 1996 and ’97, food was so scarce we lost more than sixty percent of the penguins.”
“It was ’97 and ’98, actually.”
I hadn’t realized Gavin was still nearby, listening. I look at him and again get the sense that none of this will be easy. It feels as if he wants to remind me of how long it’s been, of how hard it will be to step back into my decade-old shoes …
… “So if this is a La Niña year,” Hannah says, “it’ll be good for the penguins because of the cooler water?”
“Good for penguins,” I say, “but it also means less rain and a rougher season for the tortoises and all the animals on land.”
It’s never all good news; this I remember well. In a season when one species wins, others will lose.
In addition to the 1997-98 El Niño event mentioned above, another in 1982-83 caused even more damage — more than 70 percent of Galápagos penguins didn’t survive.
And the El Niño we’re facing right now could be even worse.
NOAA is currently looking at the possibility of a “super El Niño” — a weather event in which the temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are far higher than normal and could wreak havoc on ecosystems. As this article highlights, the effect of a super El Niño could be catastrophic for Galápagos penguins — there are only 2,000 left in the world, and to lose even a small number is devastating.
There’s not much we can about the weather — other than, long term, give up our fossil fuels and halt global warming — but the good news is that we can all help penguins by avoiding seafood and especially fish oil and krill supplements (there are so many better plant-based options!).
Much of the sea surrounding the Galápagos Islands is protected — however, poachers constantly enter protected waters to take fish (and penguins, who are caught as bycatch). And penguins don’t always stay within these protected areas … they go where the food is, which means they’re usually out there fishing where all the humans are fishing. And the penguins cannot catch what they need when they’re up against commercial fishing vessels.
With the oceans and their creatures under so much stress, leaving the seafood for the animals is the best way to help heal the oceans and help the penguins and other animals thrive. 🐧
While we all have seen that AI is used in ways both good and evil, here’s an example of where it does some good: monitoring vulnerable wildlife. This Smart Island Monitoring system in use on Floreana Island in the Galápagos offers “an unprecedented ability to detect wildlife activity and inform conservation decisions instantly, even in rugged, inaccessible terrain.”
The system has already flagged 1,500 events that needed conservation follow-up, saving 110 staff hours in the meantime. The system also allows for the tracking of endemic species, which is essential to protecting the animals as well as their fragile ecosystems.
It’s great to see conservation being made more efficient … the more animals and landscapes we can protect, the better! Learn more at Island Conservation.
One of the biggest challenges in saving endemic species in the Galápagos Islands is tackling the problem of invasive species (including feral domestic animals). The Galápagos is leading the way in ending pet overpopulation … and this amazing story shows the rest of the world how to do it.
The Galápagos Islands are uniquely motivated to get rid of unwanted pets, who endanger local wildlife. But every city and country can learn from how domestic animals are being successfully managed in the islands.
As this story makes clear, this is not just “the quirk of a remote island.” This is multiple organizations (including government, cities, and the national park) working together. And they’re not doing anything we don’t already know works: spay/neuter, microchipping, and education. But this program goes a few steps beyond to include short-term instead of long-term sheltering, a ban on the commercial sale of dogs and cats, and strong enforcement of responsible ownership (such as fencing requirements and mandatory reporting of lost pets). As the story shows, “The Galápagos didn’t discover a new principle; they simply implemented the one the U.S. long claimed to believe in.”
For these islands, managing companion animals will not only protect the local wildlife but eliminate the suffering of lost, unwanted, and feral dogs and cats … which is something we need in the U.S. and just about everywhere.
“While the Galápagos is making shelters obsolete, the U.S. is building them larger. While the Galápagos has quietly demonstrated what happens when you invest in crisis prevention, the U.S. has built an entire financial ecosystem around crisis response. … The Galápagos is not a small, lucky exception. It is a proof of concept; a functioning, scalable, prevention-based system that solves a problem most U.S. agencies have been unable to solve. It is, quite simply, a blueprint.”
This book was many years in the making, and I’ve had the joy of chatting about it with so many …
… including Melanie at Postcards & Places; check out my interview with her to learn more about the inspiration for Floreana (from the real-life human mysteries of the island to the Galápagos penguins), plus writing and traveling and more.
You can also learn about the stories behind Floreana and about my research for my first adventure in historical fiction in this essay on Necessary Fiction. Floreana, though very much about penguins, also involved a different kind of research — looking into an unsolved mystery from a century ago and sorting out who might’ve been responsible for the very mysterious happenings in the Galápagos back in the 1930s.
I’m thrilled to have received wonderful reviews for Floreana … including a starred review from Library Journal, which calls Floreana “gripping and intriguing” and “highly recommended.” Publishers Weekly writes: “As Dore’s account sheds light on the mystery of the disappearances, Raymond reveals how both Mallory and Dore fail to escape their problems, even by crossing the globe. The result is an engrossing narrative of self-reckoning.”
And to learn a bit more about the book as well as the historical details of Floreana, check out Ed Battistella’s article and review in Ashland.news.
Finally, for anyone who is in Southern California or Southern Oregon, join me at an event! I’ll be at the Ashland Public Library on Tuesday, December 3, at 5 p.m. — at San Diego Writers Ink on Tuesday, December 10, at 6 p.m. — and at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Friday, December 13, at 4 p.m. I look forward to seeing you!
To learn more about the book and how to get a copy, click here. And for all of you in book clubs, you can contact me for a visit and get a book club kit here.
