Just off the Florida Panhandle coastline, within site of Perdido Key, an underwater mass of dead sea life that appears to be growing as microscopic algae and bacteria get trapped and die has been found by scientists.

Early samples indicate the glob is at least 3 feet thick and spans two-thirds of a mile parallel to the coast.

No one knows where it came from or where it will go.

It appears to be nearly 100% organic, but this does not rule out something initiated by the Gulf oil spill.  Part of the confusion stems from the size of the blob–not that it was so huge it was a mystery, but rather because it was so big, the researchers did not have sufficient tools to sample from the bottom layer, which would likely be very instructive.  They will return with the appropriate tools.

Cuttlecap tip to Glendon Mellow and Deep Sea News, via twitter.

Cos wicked men are easily led
From here to there, from bed to bed,
By orders from their smaller head
We’ve had to ban the quadruped.

Uncovering the nakedness
Of relatives, we will not bless;
The major reason, I confess–
It makes reunions such a mess.

Thou shall not mark upon thy skin;
It is, of course, a wicked sin
As bad as if a man begin
To bed a sheep, or sleep with kin.

We read the bible, and we choose
Which laws to keep, and which refuse;
Not Godly Law, but human ruse…
As old as time, so hardly news.

Context here, and especially here.

Cos wicked men are easily led
From here to there, from bed to bed,
By orders from their smaller head
We’ve had to ban the quadruped.

Uncovering the nakedness
Of relatives, we will not bless;
The major reason, I confess–
It makes reunions such a mess.

Thou shall not mark upon thy skin;
It is, of course, a wicked sin
As bad as if a man begin
To bed a sheep, or sleep with kin.

We read the bible, and we choose
Which laws to keep, and which refuse;
Not Godly Law, but human ruse…
As old as time, so hardly news.

Context here, and especially here.

The average height of the islands is approximately 6.5 feet. Already, land is scarce and drinking water can be in short supply. There’s nowhere to retreat.

So concerns about climate change are felt very acutely here. Though estimates are rough, scientists predict average sea levels could rise as much as 3 feet by the end of the century due to global warming.

Science, of course, tends to be conservative, moving forward only as it can supply strong evidence for each step.  As such, people looking for direct, solid links between global warming and the loss of land that is already happening in Kiribati are likely to find enough play in the evidence that they can deny it altogether if they have sufficient reason (paging Leon Festinger…).

And they have sufficient reason, in religious belief.

Tito says he believes in the Biblical account of Noah’s ark. In that story, after God devastates the world with a flood, he makes a covenant with Noah that he will never send another.

So while Tito does acknowledge that global warming is affecting the planet and that he has noticed some impacts, he says rising sea levels are not as serious a threat as Tong and others are making them out to be.

“Saying we’re going to be under the water, that I don’t believe,” Tito says. “Because people belong to God, and God is not so silly to allow people to perish just like that.”

Indeed, the current president’s religious faith has come under question, simply because he has (quite understandably, given their precarious position) chosen to draw attention to climate change problems!


The NPR story is part one of a two-part series.  I’m really looking forward to part two!