There is an unprecedented number of tropical depressions brewing in the Atlantic Ocean. So much so that we’re running out of letters to name them and will soon turn things over to the Greek alphabet.
According to the Washington Post:
“Twenty tropical storms and hurricanes have already been named in the Atlantic in 2020, with months left to go before the oceans finally settle. The breakneck pace of the 2020 season has far outpaced the 11-storm seasonal average that usually prevails, and it has nearly exhausted the list of names that can be assigned to storms this year. It’s highly likely meteorologists will have to dip into the Greek alphabet for additional storm names — but some fear this convention, as is, could be problematic.
The Greek alphabet has only been utilized once before, during the infamous hurricane season of 2005. Seven major hurricanes formed, with 27 named storms spinning up between June 2005 and January 2006.”
Combine this with rising temperatures and raging forest fires around the world and it becomes painstakingly clear that Climate Change is here to stay. With things likely just going to get worse from here on out. Much, much worse. One potential doomsday scenario: melting polar ice caps leading to rising sea levels that displace millions of people who currently live in coastal cities. A great migration will soon be upon us.
But where will everyone go???
How about under the sea. Into underwater space stations! SeaQuest DSV style! An innovative approach, rooted in the recent past, that comes to us from famed explorer Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Fabien Cousteau.
Smithsonian Magazine explains:
“With Conshelf Two—a starfish-shaped habitat with bunk beds and infrared lamps as heaters—Cousteau proved that human beings can live under the sea for long periods of time. With its four rooms branching out from the center, it was a significant improvement from Conshelf One—a 16-foot long, 8-foot wide steel cylinder that could only fit two people. Funded by the French petrochemical industry, Cousteau’s Conshelf mission was halted just two years later, after Conshelf Three was set up at a record depth of 330 feet, and Cousteau shifted his focus from petrol-funded research to ocean conservation.
Much like the slew of single-mission habitats that followed Conshelf, not much remains of these underwater innovations. Plagued, in part, by a shift in public interest that triggered greater funding for space exploration, some have been pulled out of the water, others have become diving sites encrusted with coral growth. Today, the only operating underwater habitat remaining is 34 years old.
Cousteau’s grandson, Fabien, is hoping to change that. The founder of the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and preserving the planet’s oceans, coastal areas and marine habitats, is building the world’s largest underwater research station.
Named after the prophetic sea-god Proteus, the station will be located at a depth of 60 feet, in a biodiverse, Marine Protected Area off the coast of Curaçao. Imagined as the underwater version of the International Space Station, it will be the first underwater research habitat built in decades, marking a new chapter in their tumultuous history.”
A chapter that could prove instrumental in humanity’s long term hopes of surviving Climate Change. Because in the near future underwater habitats may graduate from curiosity to necessity, from scientific lab to survival bunker. Eventually growing to the point where we live in full fledged underwater cities, what’s left of humanity riding out the Apocalypse underneath the water world that we now find ourselves residing in.
In this scenario our future plays out completely opposite of what The Jetsons envisioned. Mankind fleeing not to the sky but rather to the sea. But this isn’t science fiction. It’s our reality. And it could come true. Sooner rather than later. If we don’t take drastic actions to curb Climate Change right away.
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