cover image The Wealth of Oceans: Environment and Development on Our Ocean Planet

The Wealth of Oceans: Environment and Development on Our Ocean Planet

Michael L. Weber. W. W. Norton & Company, $25 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-393-03764-7

Companion to a major traveling exhibit mounted by the Smithsonian Institution, this superb introduction to ocean ecology begins by examining the natural history of Chesapeake Bay since European settlement, a striking example of the detrimental effects of human action. Gradwohl, who works at the Office of Environmental Awareness at the Smithsonian, and Weber, a member of the Marine Fisheries Dept. of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, give a brief review of ocean exploration and international cooperation, then move to a lucid explanation of ocean currents. They discuss global change, pollution, fishing and aquaculture (surprisingly, it comes at great environmental cost), population growth and the future of the seas. A major hurdle for the future, they argue, is time; detecting and analyzing environmental problems and making effective responses lag well behind the loss of environmental quality. A thoughtful approach to the relationship between humans and oceans. (May)