The first (and only) time I took a transatlantic cruise from New York to England, I was really scared. When I returned and showed a friend the photos I took, he laughed and said, "Do you have any photos of anything besides the porthole?" Indeed, I spent way too much time staring out of my bedroom porthole, convinced that the ocean liner had sprung a leak a la Titanic, and was sinking.
Ironically, I think my dread has most to do with my absolute respect and awe of the sea--its vast, liquid landscape and frigid depths. Its deep sea creatures with glowing tentacles and its life-giving seaweed rich in minerals and iodine.
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| Pelamis Wave Farm |
The future will exist in large part, on the ocean. I'm convinced of it. My imagination caught fire when I pictured that future. MY YA thriller,
Fireseed One is set in 2089. It opens with a boy, Varik whose marine biologist father has drowned under mysterious circumstances. Varik has just inherited a vast ocean farm that he doesn't quite know what to do with. I made up hybrids that are part fish, part grape vines so that Varik and his farmhands could grow them up in floating warehouses. Other hybrids I created could eat up the floating toxins.
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| Vertical Farm Concept |
In the real world, scientists and marine biologists have already started to invent the ocean technologies of the future. There are underwater tidal turbines and wave farms like the Pelamis Farm in Portugal that produces clean energy for 15,000 houses. There are plans for real ocean farms. Depicted here is one such vertical farm concept.
I'll leave you with some great websites that tell you more about them. Enjoy! And here's the
A to Z link.Web Ecoist talks about
vertical sea farmsNandu Green talks about
tidal turbinesWorld Culture Pictorial talks about
wave farmsWhat amazes you about the sea and its future possibilities?
