Sense of community below high tide

A sea ethic from Blue Ocean Institute:

In his classic 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold called for a “Land Ethic” – an extension of our sense of community beyond humanity to include the whole living landscape. Inclusion, compassion, and stewardship were implicit in his idea. For many nature lovers, the ocean seems distant, vague. It now seems desirable that we should extend our sense of community below high tide — complementing the Land Ethic with a “Sea Ethic” — including all life on Earth in our concept of community.

“The ocean displays to us a dismissive, inscrutable exterior, all motion and mood, all mask and disguise, seemingly rolling on as always, its face silent about substance, its countenance mute on content, the extent of its wrinkles never varying over time. But don't underestimate her. Ninety-nine percent of Life's habitable volume is in the seas, and planet Earth would likely bear abundant and complex life if no emergent land existed. But without an ocean, this planet would merely spin unnamed three orbits from a star, its browned-out face as its own sterile moonscape. How do we begin to acknowledge a debt of such magnitude?” – Carl Safina, “A Sea Ethic: Floating the Ark”