It is clear to me how worldwide consumerism is affecting not only our mental health, but also the health of the ecosystem we are part of. However I never really grasped the compounding harms that our lifestyle is bringing to marine life. And for one time I am not talking about plastics.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure to participate to a film festival organized by Greene Scene of Coastal Georgia, a collective of organizations that aims to promote sustainability for the coast of Georgia. The event was hosted in the Ritz Theater, in historic downtown Brunswick. The turnout was great with many participants that flocked the main hall and set on a line to get free coffee, free seeds for gardens and snacks.

The main feature of the film festival was “Sonic Sea”, a nature documentary that won two Emmys in 2017. The movie shows the impact of ocean noise on cetaceans and other marine life. An impact that I completely underestimated.

The film started with a little science class. It described how sound propagates in water. Compared to air sound travels four times faster and it also travels farther distances. Because of this properties marine life relies on sound propagation for navigation, feeding and reproduction.

The scientists that participate in the film presented unequivocal evidence of the link between industrial and military noise and phenomenon like mass beaching of whales and dolphins and the disappearance of fisheries. It is a novel phenomenon, exponentially growing as our economy and stock exchange grows.

Loud sounds from ships engines and propellers, air explosion used during oil surveys and navy sonars interfere with the frequency that whales and other animals use to survive in the water, driving them insane and permanently damaging their internal organs.

The emotional narration and the striking beauty of whales contrast the distressing images of dying animals reached by the noise pollution of our civilization. At a certain moment during the screening I felt utterly hopeless.

Solutions at the end of the movie seemed a little consolation more than a promising formula. Designing quieter ships, find better survey methods to scout the ocean floor and establish protocols for Navy drills that take into account marine life will be beneficial in reducing the damage. The outreach of the documentary, the efforts made by people working to promote sustainability on all levels are great impacts to improve our way of living.

Hearing the people on the panel describe which course of action they are taking in their everyday life gave me profound appreciation for the results obtained at the cost of great passion and energy.

I still felt hopeless after hearing what we can do about it.

The amount of shipping traffic, the projects of offshore gas and oil research and extraction, the continue need to scout the depths in search of enemies threatening security seem to grow every year, together with markets, population and levels of aggression between groups. The amount of data researcher bring in also grows giving us a clear idea of the consequences of our actions.

What I find extremely depressing is that most of us (and I include myself) are not willing to renounce this way of life. Two days shipping, disposable goods and the run for the new gadgets increase the global level of trade and wealth. Reliance on fossil fuels and the use of other natural resources are rooted into our own livelihood. All of this seems necessary to keep the society and the economy working in the way we agreed upon.

The industry I am part of is uneconomical, eco-destructive and superfluous. Yet it assures the livelihood of many people and good business for linked industries. It is also extremely noisy.

The noise of our way of living is not only damaging wildlife and threatening ecosystems. It made us deaf to the warnings, blind to the evidence that our instincts and habits are harmful for everybody.

Most of the policies proposed by environmentalist are pragmatic and realistic. They of course try to compromise between different views, to mediate between different needs. Unfortunately, if we consider the data gathered, they appear but mere tweaks to our unstoppable machine.

Can we keep both our idea of progress and a place to sustain us, safe to live in?