Dream, marvel and wonder ⛓ Letter from prison

One paragraph further on, it's all about me: "It is not something that I choose, but rather I wounder because I simply cannot let it be."
A pleasant wave of emotions washes over me.
It can be summed up in one word: Yes!!!
That's not a "yes" to justify why I support our fossil fuel and anti-life course
government no longer accepted. Why I committed peaceful, civil disobedience and that's why I'm currently in prison.
This “yes” goes much deeper and is…elementary.
Protest and civil disobedience come last.
Underlying this lies doubt, questioning, disbelief and despair.
For me, all of this comes from amazement and fascination with the wonders of this world. – Of planet Earth. Our common homeland.
The wonder of nature that enchants all the senses.
When I take a sip of water from my bathroom tap, that water has probably traveled around the world dozens of times throughout history. Because everyone
The planet's oceans are connected to each other by a gigantic conveyor belt and are in constant exchange. Like I'm running myself a hot bath.
Before I dip my foot into the relaxing water, I run my hand through the water and around the tub. Because the water has already cooled down at the head end and is far too hot at the foot end.
Our oceans are also in constant movement. But this stream never stands still.
At first glance it looks like a perpetual motion machine. A miracle of nature that, upon closer inspection, is kept in motion by, among other things, temperature, pressure and suction. So the water in my red plastic prison cup may have spent some time as snow on Kilimanjaro, got to know India as a monsoon or changed the surface of North America as a hurricane.
Before it eventually came to rest and found its way into the fossil water reservoir that feeds the drinking water system through which water reached my cup.
Fascinating!
The Gulf Stream is probably the best-known part of the global ocean conveyor belt.
After supplying Europe with the warmth of the Caribbean, the water flow continues to meander north. One of the most amazing miracles on earth takes place there.
Waterfalls in the open ocean. Sinking chimneys.
The warm water on the surface cools down at the level of the Arctic and Greenland.
Yes, so far, so obvious.
But what does that mean exactly? The water becomes denser. So harder.
Because the water becomes denser, the salt content also increases. The surface water is then so much heavier than the underlying water layers that it falls into the depths.
From now on it travels as a deep current.
If that's not a reason to be amazed.
This miracle of nature or physics, which was originally the same thing when the sciences were divided into physics and metaphysics...
Where was I? Ah, as the miracle of the sinking chimneys, exactly.
The Arctic and Greenland are melting.
This not only reduces the albedo effect.
Because these gigantic ice surfaces reflect back a large part of the incoming solar energy. While most of the light on the water converts from shortwave to longwave, warming it up even faster.
The thawing ice not only raises the sea level, with all the consequences that arise from it.
The world's ice sheets are gigantic reservoirs of fresh water. The melted fresh water dilutes, mixes with the heavy water flow from Europe and thus obstructs the sinking chimneys.
If the intercontinental circulation, i.e. the global conveyor belt that runs through the oceans, comes to a standstill, Europe could expect a new ice age.
As is practically always the case, there is fascination in tragedy. So it was discovered that the Arctic is not just a solid block. It consists of land ice and inland ice. Almost like Crema Catalana. Hard on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside.
The Arctic is also not just a flat surface. It is criss-crossed by elevations that can resemble mountains of ice and depressions. Meltwater flows like rivers towards the depressions and collects there, sometimes like small lakes.
Here, too, the water falls into holes in the ice.
Scientists originally assumed that meltwater would freeze at depth. But it continues to dig underground.
Until entire blocks of ice slide loose into the sea.
These are just a few examples of why the Arctic is melting far faster than originally thought.
With more knowledge, the calculations and forecasts contained in the IPCC report change.
New discoveries are still being made. The existence of “black water” was confirmed last year.
This is water trapped in ice. (E.g. radar measurements also appear black and dark.)
That is why probabilities and forecasts are corrected in the IPCC reports.
Reasons for Concern (RFCs) are increasing.
The largest living creature on the planet can hardly be saved. No, not elephants or giant squids. The Great Barrier Reef. It bleaches and dies. In desperate attempts, fire boats are even being used to cool the world natural heritage site.
I think it would make more sense to start directly on the coast instead of using fossil fuel-powered boats.
I imagine solar panels towering over wave-breaking paths.
These could operate pumps and spray seawater into the air.
It would at least be a clear sign of the climate catastrophe for beach visitors.
It's difficult for me to check at the moment whether this actually makes sense from an energy perspective.
In any case, it wouldn't help the corals much.
When the temperature rises, corals bleach like a lopster in a cooking pot.
But what's more serious is that corals, shells and much more are made of lime. Lime is one of the basic building blocks of this planet. Mountains and mountain ranges were also once shells in the sea before they shaped the landscape.
Yes, lime, that annoying hardening in the kitchen and bathroom. But a splash of citric acid is enough and the kettle shines again. He simply dissolved.
What does this have to do with the Great Barrier Reef and the oceans?
The oceans are our planet's largest CO² reservoir. But the measure is full. Over the years they have absorbed so much CO² that they are now turning sour and tipping over. The pH value drops.
Corals, mussels and other crustaceans find it difficult to grow and ultimately survive. There are already dead zones in the oceans. A large part of humanity meets its nutritional needs from seafood and fish.
But it's better to go back to being amazed.
The global ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface.
Yet we know relatively little. The deep sea is less explored than the universe.
More is known about alien galaxies than about the depths of our planet.
The origin of life on Earth could be in the deep sea. In the deepest, darkest and most hostile places on the planet, there are places where life thrives. In some places the seabed has broken up. Magma creates hot springs. Bacteria live here, just like they once did in the primordial soup.
It is possible that a transition to a multicellular organism can still be observed here today.
Humans have shaped this planet like no other being. No natural force has changed the face of the earth as massively as we have.
That's why some scientists talk about a separate era: the Anthropocene.
But it is up to us to continue writing history.
Again I have to think of Juli Zeh(li's) guard houses from Corpus Delicti.
Discarded oil platforms could be home to solar farms. The unused drilling rigs would anchor and expand the span of the panels as a memorial to history.
Together with hydroelectric power plants, a settlement could be supplied.
A modern Atlantis. I find that more attractive than turning Venice into Atlantis.
Last year in October I was at a conference on environmental crime at the Paul Hobe House.
The most apt sentence came from a representative of the WWF and also applies to the climate catastrophe: “It is not due to a lack of solutions, but rather due to the political will to implement them.”
That's why let's work together for a future worth living.
Demand them. Screaming, sitting, sticking… with everyone

Kevin Hecht (August 2023 from the Cottbus JVA)