FBF: Helen Scales: The Future of the World’s Ocean

After more than twenty years of exploring the seas, marine biologist Helen Scales found herself struggling to answer a question that ever more people were asking: Are you hopeful for the future of the ocean? She’s gazed into the intelligent eyes of octopuses, listened to whales singing underwater and found pocket-sized sharks in rockpools; she has also swum in plastic-polluted waters and watched coral reefs bleaching in heat waves. With the growing public interest in nature combined with the rising tide of eco-anxiety, Scales is not alone in wrestling with feelings of anger and loss but also joy and wonder in the living ocean.

Scales will talk about how writing What the Wild Sea Can Be helped her find a reassuring balance of hopes and fears for the future of life in the ocean. She thinks we need to be both optimistic and pessimistic, and that it's important not to let one feeling push the other out. Instead of turning away from the problems, she encourages readers to understand what’s going on while still feeling a sense of awe and wonder in marine life and demanding a better future for the ocean which is still well within reach.

"Stylish, eloquent . . . Enthralling and richly expressed and highlights how closely our lives depend on the deep" THE GUARDIAN

"Necessary reading for anybody who cares about the future of the planet"  James Bradley, author of DEEP WATER

This event is part of Falmouth Book Festival running from 14-20 October. For more info visit the website www.falmouthbookfestival.com

Tickets: £8/£6

A £1 Poly Fund payment is added to each ticket sold