The Atlas of Disappearing Places by Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros
The Atlas of Disappearing Places
Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis
Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros
The New Press
July 2021
Hardcover
8 x 10 , 240 pages
ISBN: 978–1–62097–456–8
As life on land struggles with anthropocentric practices, the oceans are choking silently. The Atlas of Disappearing Places is a stunning blend of art, science, and speculative writing. Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros have created maps of various coastal and oceanic regions around the globe using art to show the dire consequences of melting ice, ocean acidification, and changing wave patterns. The book connects changing coastal patterns to our changing political and socio-economic conditions as well.
Each chapter has maps recreated from published data sources with colored legends and then digitally layered onto Google Earth images to depict geographical reference points. Conklin painted these maps on dried “sea-lettuce” (Ulva sp.) sheets. The green macroalgae were hauled, stacked, and bleached in the sun to create translucent parchment ready for seaweed cartography. The work is a tribute to eco-art sensibilities and creates a space for artistic contemplation for the reader. With every map, you are reminded of the vast swathes of marine life currently residing in our oceans and the effect our actions have on them.
The authors divided the book into four parts. The first part discusses changing the chemistry of the oceans. From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the “dead zone” of the Arabian Sea (also known as “oxygen minimum zone” or OMZ), the maps show that our ocean ecosystems are in deep danger due to increased acidification, fertilizer plant waste disposal, and plastic dump. The second part titled “Strengthening Storms” creates a bleak picture of hurricanes and cyclones which disrupt low-lying islands, coastal habitats, and cityscapes. Rising temperatures make for a striking part three where seaweed maps show sea surface temperatures in the Arctic and the Antarctic are in bright red. Finally, rising sea levels that will upend and force people to migrate to the interior mainland or drier areas is a frightening endnote of the book.
Most people think a plastic bag eaten by a turtle does not directly affect them. In our fluorescent-lit and air-conditioned dwellings, the melting Arctic permafrost does not command our attention. One of the chapters titled “The North Atlantic: In Deep” has vivid paintings of the biodiversity of ocean microscopic life. The oceans are a vibrant living web of plankton (bacteria, protists, viruses, and other tiny creatures) that generate 50–80% of the oxygen on Earth. These form a part of a dynamic system in the ocean that regulates via feedback loops while adapting to changes around them. Therefore, tiny changes in seas such as temperature or lack of oxygen create a cascading effect that disrupts the plankton population and higher life forms.
The authors create a powerful narrative depicting a similarity between our addiction to fossil fuels and substance abuse. Medical science and psychology have paved the way to understand drug dependence and recovery methods. The authors propose a similar recovery pathway to overcoming self-deceit in this consumer-driven world that runs on fossil fuels. Rather than enforcing complete abstinence of usage, approaches aimed at incremental reduction of fossil fuels allow for a real and visible shift. Personal steps like taking a bike instead of a car or ditching that single-use plastic bottle reduces harm to our nature. Such individual steps pave the path for restructuring consumer patterns for a safe and healthy future generation. Of course, massive international cooperation and tightened government regulations are needed to wane off our dependence on fossil fuels but sudden abstinence of these resources is not feasible, especially for low-income and underdeveloped countries.
The book triumphs for me in its speculative snapshots of the Earth in the year 2050. Each chapter ends with a conclusive fictive scenario of the future. The authors have relied on present technologies and knowledge to instill some hope in planning for a long-term strategy of sustainable, cheap, efficient, and peaceful existence on the planet. A future where international cooperation regarding maritime practices, climate migration, alternative fuel strategies, and eco-engineering coexist. Again, these fictive scenarios are speculative and not true events or predictions rather they are weaved inspired by current events. But they are powerful and interesting. Though not all scenarios are pretty. One of the images portrayed in the book will stay with me for quite some time. It involves a class of petrochemicals called poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They are ubiquitous in the environment and bioaccumulate in humans and other life forms. The authors put a creative spin on how PFAS will affect our future generation. The effect is surreal and thought-provoking. I leave the reader with this powerful vignette from the book.
“In 2025, a home test kit for PFAS contamination was created by a group of DIY bio-enthusiasts, and the Alphas* seized on it. Teens published their PFAS blood concentration levels on their social media feeds, they got finger tattoos with their numbers, they shaved their results into their hairstyles. Their parents were angry and proud and embarrassed and exasperated. And still worried.”
(*Alphas here denote the children of the Millennials.)
