“The sea is everything. It is the key to our future as a species and as a planet. Produces half of the oxygen we breathe, absorbs 90% of excess heat. It is the heart and lung of our world. We have the false perception that it is untouchable, protected by its immensity from the impacts of human activities. It is not so. More than 40% of the sea is sick due to man. And his health, if it’s not good, affects ours. Yet the sea could be the solution to everything“.
It’s one of leading marine biologists in the world. Leaving from Florence she arrived on the roof of the world of science. Her name is Florence Michelistudies the oceans, works for the health of the sea and to make our future more sustainable. Professor of marine sciences at Stanford University, among the 3 best universities on the planet, lives at Hopkins Marine Station, the marine station of Stanford which he directed for years, in Monterei Bay, California. “It’s a wonderful place, a sanctuary for cetaceans, whales, dolphins, sharks, killer whales, marine forests”. Today she is co-director of the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions and director of the “Oceans” Department of the School of Sustainability that Stanford created last year, a unique school because alongside research institutes it has an accelerator to implement the most innovative ideas .
Science, research, motivation, passion, inspiration. The sea is for her all these things together. “The sea is a source of inspiration, our connection to nature and each other. When I think: ‘what is it that connects us all and inspires us?’, I think of the sea”. Micheli is there first Italian woman to win the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, an international prize that is given to the best researchers in the world. He searches everywhere. California, Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, Palau, the Pacific Line Islands, the Caribbean and the Chagos Archipelago.
“The sea covers 70% of our planet. 90% of habitable space is sea. And humanity has explored only 5-10% of them. It’s the new frontier, it’s like space. We know less about the sea than we know about other planets. It is a real frontier both from the point of view of knowledge and from that of solutions. From pharmaceuticals to climate change mitigation. The sea can contribute to the solution of the major crises we are facing. But its global conditions are worrying, like those of terrestrial environments. Much of the sea is significantly disrupted by activities such as fishing, pollution, climate change and acidification of water caused by CO emissions2“.
But there is good news. ‘Regionally and locally, many parts of our marine planet are in good shape. We need to conserve them. Marine systems also have a very fast recovery ability. Generally greater, compared to terrestrial systems”.
Micheli has been directing a program on the coast of Mexico for over 17 years which has involved hundreds of scientists, researchers, economists, engineers, anthropologists, policy experts, fishermen and communities living on the sea. His research has shown how climate change (heat waves and toxic algae blooms) increase the temperature and lower the oxygen concentration in the sea, to the point of creating mortality for certain marine species and this has an impact on the entire ecosystem. “We discovered that these events impact a large variety of marine ecosystems and we understood that coastal communities are not passive victims of these phenomena, but have an enormous capacity to organize and adapt. They create voluntary forms of sea conservation, establishing marine areas protected, developing alternative activities such as aquaculture and environmental restoration, and promoting programs for the inclusion of young people and women in the management of these activities.This is important because it gives us hope: coastal marine communities, around the world, can bring about positive changes to this huge problem”.
“From fishermen in Mexico I learned a lot. They taught me to always keep the big picturedespite the difficulties. To be aware of your role and the importance of making decisions together. Scientific career often promotes individualism, I learned from fishermen that the collective part of our work is as important as the individual one”.
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Florentine, an early passion for the sea born on the island of Elba, where Micheli spent every summer from a very young age swimming, boating and observing the crabs in the tide pools. And the crabs will come back into her life. You graduated in natural sciences in Florence with a thesis on the behavior of river crabs. She wins a first scholarship and goes to Australia to study mangroves, splendid marine forests. She returns and wins a new scholarship. But this time she’s Fulbright, the most important international cultural exchange program in the United States, a sign of excellence and distinction worldwide. The Nobel Prize has been won by great names in science, economics and art. From Carlo Rubbia to Margherita Hack. Micheli does a PhD first at North Carolina State University. Then a post doc in Santa Barbara at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. After the post doctorate, Micheli returned to Italy, going first to Pisa, then to Elba to study the science of marine reserves and the effectiveness of conservation at sea. He spends two years in Italy and then Stanford calls her. It’s 2001 and since then Micheli hasn’t returned.
“It was the greatest fortune of my life. I didn’t plan to go abroad. But at Stanford I fell in love. It represents the courage to explore, a huge drive to innovate, not being afraid to do new things, indeed feeling the urgency to do them. And to do them together”. Curious, tenacious, passionate, capable of creating partnerships with industry, government, institutions, fishermen. “Curiosity is indispensable for a scientific career. Every day you put yourself in a position to ask yourself questions. More and more often I ask myself: what is a sustainable future? What will the sea, coastal environments, the Pacific Ocean be like in 50 years , the Mediterranean?”. Among the answers is a project called Blue Food Assessment: 100 scientists from 25 institutions are studying blue food. “The food produced by aquatic environments (sea, lakes and rivers), i.e fish, algae and invertebrates could help feed 10 billion people in a healthy and sustainable way”
Two children, 10 and 16 years old. A message to the new generations: “Don’t let anyone ever tell you ‘you can’t do it’, don’t lose hope and be optimistic. Because commitment pays off. Things can be done. And then why there are no alternatives to optimism“.
Will you come back to Italy?
“I still have a lot of things to do here and I want to do them all.”
Before closing the interview, I ask you: is there anything important that we haven’t touched?
“Yes, the women’s question.”
What does it mean?
“For women, science is still a difficult and tiring road“.
Have you been penalized?
“Yes. I had to work harder and sacrifice myself to get the same level of recognition and be taken seriously.”
The result?
“We don’t exploit talent. If the road were more open e welcoming to women we may have a true representation of minds and abilities.”
Same old story?
“Yes, but we are optimistic. Long live the sea”
Long live the sea.
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