I am inside a tiny, 1-person submarine beneath the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles offshore from the Alaskan coast. There are 1,300 feet of water between me and the surface. I’m here as part of a Greenpeace-led expedition to shed new light on the unexplored depths here.

It’s freezing cold, completely dark, and forbidding — and it’s utterly beautiful.

• I’ve seen deep sea corals at nearly 2,000 feet, defiantly wearing their brilliant pink colors across a dark, brown and gray seascape; some of the corals here may be over 2,000 years old.
• I’ve seen prehistoric-looking fish patrolling the dark waters of these depths.
• I’ve seen hungry, voracious squid, rocketing toward my sub’s lights, probing my sub’s surface for something to swallow.
• I’ve seen the fine threads that hold an ecosystem together, like how tiny shrimp and other creatures, seeking sanctuary from the powerful undersea currents, eagerly gather in the depressions in the bottom left by flatfish like halibut and skates, each bearing a perfect outline of the fish that previously lay there.
• I’ve seen the current carrying countless tiny and microscopic plankton, and with my lights out, witnessed these creatures light up the darkness with hypnotic constellations yellow-green light.
• And I’ve seen the unmistakable mark of humanity’s hand, in the form of huge plowed swaths of bottom where little grows, the telltale scars of trawling for fish, here in the place where half of the U.S. fish catch comes from.

I believe there are important lessons for us down here. Lessons on how we live our lives high above and far away from this place. But they’re not just lessons about science. They’re lessons of our own humanity.

Here in this tiny sub, I’m trying to comprehend an enormous, complex tapestry in the darkness. And in the vastness, I feel small, awed by each sight around me, overwhelmed by how much we still don’t know. More than anything, I feel a strong sense of humility, my own self-importance paled against the grandeur of this place, our planet, and the knowledge to come in the centuries ahead.

Humility is perhaps one of the most important lessons from this place. It allows us to see beyond ourselves, to truly perceive the world around us with wonder. Yet it’s a quality strangely lacking from too many of our leaders today, whose arrogance short-circuits our human quest for truth, supplanting reason with rhetoric. True leadership demands the bravery to seek the truth, a curious mind to fashion a better way forward, and objectivity, to admit regrets.

I truly hope we can reawaken our unique and precious human qualities of wonder, curiosity and humility, helping our children spend less of their summers learning how to take a standardized test, and more learning how to explore the real world around them.

By the end of my dive a few hours from now, my tiny sub will have illuminated but a few new corners of this vast place. With each tantalizing glimpse come new insights and a little more of the story this ornate tapestry tells. I believe there are life lessons in countless corners of the world around us. We just need to do what humans do best: Look around and be curious.

I wrote most of this short essay while piloting the DeepWorker submersible below the Bering Sea in 2007. It was originally submitted for NPR’s “This I Believe” series and 3 years later, reprinted here.

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This Week’s Guest: John Hocevar

This week's guest: John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Leader, Greenpeace USA

John Hocevar knew that he wanted to protect the world’s oceans from the first time he saw the beach when he was four years old. Since that time, the marine biologist has worked on a host of ocean conservation issues from protecting the habitat of endangered sea turtles in Florida to teaching marine biology and environmental science to students. John has extensive experience in coral reef conservation, and worked with Coral Cay Conservation to develop a coastal management plan for the Government of Belize. In addition to ocean conversation work, John has spent time organizing students around various environmental and social justice issues. Before coming to Greenpeace in 2004, John was the founder and executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.

Additional information: Greenpeace.org

Tip of the Week

Don’t pour hazardous liquids down the drain!! Contact your local government for instructions in your area. According to Montgomery County, Maryland: Let latex paints dry out first, then dispose of normally. Dry oil-based paints, then dispose as hazardous waste.

The Ocean Doctor airs weekly on WebTalkRadio.net. Want to listen on your iPod, iPhone or mp3 player? Download the mp3 file or subscribe on iTunes and don’t miss a single episode. See the complete list of episodes.

Submit a question and I’ll try to answer it on the air. Even better, record your question or comment on our special message line and I might play it on the air. Call: (805) 619-9194. You can also leave questions and comments for this episode below.

Like the show? Learn how to become a sponsor.

The ExpeditionCasts podcast is back! The series returns with the video version of the Ocean Doctor’s popular blog post, "Attacked by the Giant Squid’s Cousins." (You can access the video version below.) That’s big news. But the GINORMOUS news is that ExpeditionCasts returns along with a new version of Google Earth. Version 5.0 of Google Earth allows you to explore the other 70 percent of the planet — the world’s oceans — and access

stunning underwater video content from around the world. 1planet1ocean has been privileged to be a contributor to this enormous, er, GINORMOUS project, and you’ll find five ExpeditionCasts videos among the others Google Earth 5.0. Look for them in Alaska’s Bering Sea and off the northwestern coast of Cuba.

The project has been a two-year effort stemming from a chance meeting of oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and Google’s John Hanke at a meeting of the Geographical Society of Spain. Dr. Earle pointed out, directly but politely, that Google had done a great job with Google Earth, until you entered the water, that is. Since then, a large team of collaborators was assembled and has worked to bring the other 70 percent of the planet to life in Google Earth 5.0.

Earlier today at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, former Vice President Al Gore, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, John Hanke (Director, Google Earth and Maps), Dr. Sylvia Earle (Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic Society and Founder, Deep Search Foundation) and others announced Google Earth 5.0 to the world.

We invite you to explore Google Earth 5.0. If you like ExpeditionCasts, we’ll be releasing each of the videos that are part of Google Earth 5.0 over the next few weeks, which you’ll receive automatically if you subscribe to our feed (free) below. We recommend that you subscribe for the best video quality and so you don’t miss a single episode!

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Kenneth Lowyck in DeepWorker

It’s hard to get a big smile out of Ken Lowyck, Greenpeace’s capable Action Unit Coordinator (and sub pilot) based in Toronto. I snapped the photo to the right and captured Ken’s pre-dive excitement last summer on August 1, just minutes before he was launched on the dive to 700 feet in Pribilof Canyon in the Bering Sea that resulted in one of the expedition’s most important discoveries. I imagine the modest smile that appeared on his face has returned today as Greenpeace has announced that the tiny, unassuming white sponge he retrieved on that dive was never before documented by Homo sapiens, and may well herald future announcements of other new species from the expedition. The sponge was named Aaptos kanuux, the word “kanuux” being the Aleut word for “heart,” in honor of the Bering Sea’s canyons, considered to be the heart of the Bering Sea by the region’s natives who depend on their font of life to sustain their way of life. It was also the first time the genus Aaptos has ever been documented in the Bering Sea. The painstaking work of analyzing hours and hours of video and hundreds of retrieved samples continues and will likely continue for years, as science soldiers on. I’m certain we can expect more dramatic news as the effort continues.

Aaptos kanuux: A New Species of Sponge!

I was reunited with one of my fellow sub pilots last week when I shared breakfast with John Hocevar, Greenpeace Senior Ocean Specialist. Though the restaurant wasn’t pitching and rolling like Esperanza, it felt as though the expedition was very much still underway as we talked, that our collective voyage of discovery was far from its conclusion, and the latest news from John confirmed it. He told me that half of the 14 deep sea corals documented during the expedition were never before seen in the Bering Sea. Nor were two thirds of the 20 or so sponge species documented. And the expedition provided the first record of black coral of any kind and the first record of stony coral (also known as Scleractinians — see the photo below right) in the Bering Sea. NOAA biologist Robert Stone participated in the expedition and co-authored a recent paper with Greenpeace scientist John Hocevar presented the new findings at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium. You can see a copy of the report online.

The expedition was undertaken to collect information needed to inform conservation policies by the North Pacific Fisheries Council. The expedition team documented numerous examples of extensive damage to corals by fishing trawlers, which essentially clearcut the bottom with their nets. It’s hard to express the scale of what we observed,nwhich, even in Hi-Def video, can’t begin to convey the scale of destruction. It’s almost comical to listen to the audio of the tape of one of my dives, where I excitedly radioed to the surface that I’ve landed at 1,000 feet in some sort of geological relief, a conclusion I drew when I saw what appeared to be a long ridge in front of me. After ascending a few feet to get a better perspective, the horror of what I was looking at set in — I had landed squarely in the middle of a miles-long trawling scar, a scar that left virtually nothing living on the bottom and that left a swath nearly half the size of a New York city block of uplifted sediment…my so-called “ridge.”

Stony Coral (Scleractinian) in the Bering Sea (c) 2007 Todd Warshaw

John also shared with me the challenge he’s had in presenting these data at North Pacific Fishery Management Council. In late 2006, they claimed that they didn’t have enough data to justify any special designation for the Bering Sea Canyons, areas they prioritized for research at the same meeting. This inspired the 2007 expedition undertaken by Greenpeace, but returning with compelling data, photos and video in hand has done little so far to advance any change in mindset by the Council. Failure to take action to protect natural resource on the basis of too little information is so 20th Century. Surely the best policies err on the side of conserving valuable resources when information about their status is scarce. I’m confident that the compelling results of this expedition will speak loudly on their own and science will guide humanity’s hand accordingly.

So for now, I revel in the joy of discovery, and like Ken, I smile with the satisfaction of helping to advance humanity’s knowledge about a mysterious and fantastic world below, and with the anticipation of the voyages ahead…

See new Bering Sea footage while cruising on the Potomac River in Washington, DC

To celebrate the Marine Fish Conservation Network’s 15th anniversary, Dr. David Guggenheim will be the featured speaker aboard a cruise along the Potomac River in Washington, DC on May 7, 2008. As the first human being to pilot a submarine into the Bering Sea’s two largest canyons he will show rare footage from Greenpeace’s recent scientific expedition to these extraordinarily beautiful and mysterious ocean depths. The Marine Fish Conservation Network is a coalition of over 190 national and regional environmental organizations, commercial and recreational fishing groups, aquariums, and marine science groups dedicated to conserving marine fish and to promoting their long-term sustainability. Download Invitation (PDF)

Read More About the Bering Sea Expedition…

READ THE REST: This post is published on OceanDoctor’s original blog at OceanDoctor.Vox.com. To read this post in its entirety, please click here.

The brilliant pink coral, Swiftia pacifica, found at 1,300 feet in Pribilof Canyon, Bering Sea, Alaska (Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

BERING SEA, Alaska — This past summer, the Greenpeace ship M/V Esperanza carried two manned submersibles, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and an international research team to the Bering Sea for a three week survey of Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons,to map and document deepwater corals living at depths of more than 1,000 feet. The expedition was conceived of and was led by Greenpeace. 1planet1ocean president David E. Guggenheim participated as a sub pilot and scientific consultant. Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons revealed diverse and complex ecosystems, rich with corals, sponges, fish and other marine life. They also revealed striking human impacts from trawlers, damage that was documented during the expedition. More than a terabyte of video data and numerous biological specimens are now being analyzed and results are being shared with a range of decisionmakers and decisionmaking bodies, including the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

A bald eagle sits atop Unalaska’s Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Ascension with Esperanza at anchor in background.
(Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

With a Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes) of high-definition video, photographs and other data, along with numerous biological samples, now making their way around the world to scientists, policymakers and public forums, new insights and perspectives are emerging as the hard work of reviewing this vast volume of new data moves forward. The science team and sub pilots have departed Esperanza, which is continuing west along the Aleutian Island chain, continuing important outreach to local communities. The ship will eventually continue west to Japan.

Before departing Dutch Harbor, the science team/sub pilots made the first public presentation of its findings, including imagery and videos, to the community of Unalaska. The following day, members of the community were invited aboard Esperanza during an Open House to meet with the crew and see the ship up close.

Though the at-sea portion of the expedition has concluded, much work lies ahead in the analysis and review of the information collected. In addition, planning is underway for events to bring the new imagery and insights to the public, so stay tuned. Also, the team continues to review chart data regarding the pinnacles reported to be in the Zhemchug Canyon area which purportedly rise within 20 feet of the surface. Such features would certainly be biologically important, so the search will continue.

Greenpeace Ocean Specialist, John Hocevar (left) and Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner, George Pletnikov (right) lead community outreach event in Unalaska, Alaska. (Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons revealed diverse and complex ecosystems, rich with corals, sponges, fish and other marine life. They also revealed striking human impacts from trawlers, damage that was documented during the expedition. For a reflection on the conclusion of the expedition, read David Guggenheim’s latest OceanDoctor blog post entitled, “A Sea Turtle is Born in Alaska.”

The Esperanza carried two manned submersibles, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and an international research team to the Bering Sea for a three week survey of Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons,to map and document deepwater corals living at depths of more than 1,000 feet. The expedition was conceived of and was led by Greenpeace.

Track the Bering Sea Expedition: Esperanza’s Current Location, Weather & Live Webcam