discusses his book , the science behind ocean currents, and how Sesame Street saved our childhoods. To listen to the extended interview , or subscribe to our .
鈥擲tayton Bonner
What鈥檚 up with the bath toys?
Bath toys became popular in the middle of the 20th century, partly due to a government ad campaign for little boys to play with toys in the tub as opposed to playing with themselves. But I think their current popularity can mainly be traced back to . They鈥檙e an iconic symbol of childhood innocence.
Why鈥檇 you follow the duckies?
I read about 7,200 hollow plastic ducks, beavers, turtles, and frogs going overboard from a container ship in the Pacific. The iconic bath toy鈥攖his symbol of childhood鈥攐ut there on the ocean, the most sublime wilderness on earth, was an interesting incongruity. Imagine you鈥檙e walking on a beach in Maine鈥攐ne of the tantalizing reports was that someone thought they saw one there鈥攁nd see this old faded battered duck atop the seaweed. You ask yourself, 鈥淲here did this thing come from?鈥 The book tries to answer that in an oceanographic way鈥攖heir travel along the currents.
How little do we still know about the ocean?
Very little. There are underwater storms in the ocean. Only a small fraction has been explored. Looking at a globe with little arrows, you might think we understand ocean currents, but that鈥檚 only a cartoon of them. In reality, the ocean鈥檚 movements are chaotic and often unpredictable. I quickly followed these toys into the mysteries of climate science.
惭测蝉迟别谤颈别蝉?听听听听听听听听听听
Most scientists will tell you we need to better map the ocean if we鈥檙e going to refine our predictions of climate to come. Drones are capturing the necessary intelligence for us to bring it into better focus. But even so they can鈥檛 go into parts of the Arctic. There are depths they can鈥檛 reach. I鈥檓 inclined to agree with Rachel Carson that the last and darkest mysteries of the sea may never be entirely solved.
What鈥檚 the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Currents converge and encircle these calms, trapping man鈥檚 floating detritus. I imagined it as something solid, like you鈥檇 have to poke things out of the way as you kayaked through it. In fact, it鈥檚 spread across millions of miles of ocean and moves seasonally with the currents. They鈥檝e pulled 50-year-old Mickey Mouse watches from the northern Pacific.
If you were reincarnated as a rubber bath toy, what would you be?聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
I learned there was a fifth floatee discontinued as a potential choking hazard shortly before the spill. It was the purple whale.
Call me Ishmael.
Yeah, Melville was a touchstone for thinking about my journey. While the mythic beast in his 19th century tale was a godlike white sperm whale and the hunt a primal undertaking/investigation of the nature of the cosmos, it seemed appropriate for me in the 21st century to chase after a hollow plastic duck.