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I can't believe 2012 is almost over, it feels like just a few weeks ago that we agreed with our sponsor Cantek to start this project, and that was November 2011. This project has been very unique and different for me. Being used to the high stakes of World Records, where for many months I would train and train in an almost robotic manner, not having much time left to think or look to the outside world, I am now able to contemplate all that happens around us and see many things, big and small, that would escape me before. It has been frustrating to make such slow progress on this project, due to all the reasons we have explained in other posts, but it has also been good to have the ability to pause, take a breath, look, see and learn so much about our world, and more importantly, ourselves. Here are a few of the things that have become clear to me in 2012: Our oceans are dying. There's no denying this anymore, it is a terrible fact we have to accept. Everywhere we have gone, life underwater has either decreased tremendously or died completely. And if the oceans occupy 75 % of our planet's surface and we have managed to bring them to the edge of total destruction, how long will it take us to destroy the smaller part where we actually live, once oceans can no longer function as a filter to protect us? And even more... Global warming is real and weather patterns are changing for the worse Our planet keeps getting hotter and hotter every year, and this is affecting everything from life in the oceans to the health of the mountains to the quality of the atmosphere. Weather patterns are getting worse, with an increase in storms, hurricanes and generally bad conditions. Just a few years ago, there were patterns that could be counted on, such as rain in the spring, hot summers with beautiful days and winters with very calm seas, that had held for millions of years probably. Nowadays, patterns are changing everywhere, there are storms in the winter, no rain in the spring, and really bad weather all year long. Our planet is beginning to react in very unpleasant, and unpredictable, ways to all the damage we're inflicting on it. But... People don't care. Scientists and environmentally conscious people may despair about the current state of affairs, but the majority of humanity does not care, not really. In the poor countries they are fighting for their own survival, and in the rich countries they are just too concerned with improving the material quality of their lives
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