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Recycled Seashells Transform Beach Into a Dazzling Art Installation

Artist Subodh Kerkar uses thousands of repurposed mussel shells to create a stunning, undulating “ode to the ocean.”

To celebrate the ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ festival in Aarhus, Denmark, artist Subodh Kerkar repurposed thousands of mussle shells into mesmerizing designs. Photo by Subodh Kerkar.

Each year for the last four years, the coastal city of Aarhus, Denmark, has turned their pristine coastline into a temporary outdoor art gallery. Sculpture by the Sea Aarhus, open from June 5th to July 5th along the coast of Tangkrogen to Ballehage, is Denmark’s largest art event and features an international roster of creatives. Now on view, the exhibition contains 60 sculptures and offers audiences “a unique opportunity to combine social and recreational activities, exercise, art, nature and common experiences.”

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Smartboard Turns Any Surfer Into an Amateur Ocean Conservationist

Smartphin, a new data-collecting surfboard, lets wave-heads gather key info on changing ocean conditions while they hang ten.

Below the surface, the ocean offers researchers a wealth of information on climate change.

Did you know that the near-shore zone is one of the most difficult areas of the ocean to chart? Unlike the deeper parts of the water, equipment in this turbulent stretch is often destroyed by storms, waves, or rusted by constant exposure to both air and salty seas. This has left an information gap in the ongoing effort to monitor the effect of climate change on the oceans—until now. Smartphin, a surfboard fin with a data-collecting chip embedded under its varnished exterior, is able to collect this valuable information, turning surfers into citizen scientists.

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Submerge Yourself in Google’s Stunning Underwater Street Views

To celebrate World Oceans Day, Google invites us to experience our planet’s aquatic beauty firsthand.

image via youtube screen capture

Despite their covering most of this planet’s surface, and containing nearly all its water, we oftentimes take our oceans for granted. Sure, we admire them from afar, occasionally floating atop them on cruise ships or fishing boats. We might even dip a toe into their waters while spending a day at the beach. By and large, however, the vast majority of us have never strapped on scuba gear and actually spent time submerged in Earth’s watery depths. Regardless of their sheer planetary magnitude, the oceans are, for many of us, a complete unknown.

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Intermission: Sea 'SOUP' and Pollution

In a series of hauntingly gorgeous photographs entitled “SOUP,” Mandy Barker captures the bright, plastic debris that covers our oceans.

In a series of hauntingly gorgeous photographs entitled “SOUP,” UK-based photographer, Mandy Barker, captures a visual interpretation of sea pollution, mainly focusing on bright, plastic debris. While Barker accumulated the plastics from beaches all over the world to represent a “global collection of debris that has existed for varying amounts of time in the world’s oceans,” the series particularly references an area in the North Pacific Ocean called “the Garbage Patch,” famous for its exceptionally high plastic, sludge, and waste levels.

Barker not only draws attention to the disturbing amount of pollution in our oceans, but also to the sea creatures who are fatefully attracted to the garbage. According to Barker, “The sequence of images in SOUP reveal a 
narrative that begins with the initial attraction of plastics to sea creatures, their
 attempted ingestion, and ending with their ultimate death 
represented by ‘SOUP:Ruinous Remembrance.'" Barker started her project two years ago, but as marine pollution continues to exist, "SOUP" remains a work in progress.

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Oceans Pay the Price for Costco's Seafood

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Silvia Earle on Blame, Action, and Oil Spills

Yesterday was World Oceans Day, and in honor of it, Treehugger brought in Sylvia Earle, a marine scientist and 2009 TED Prize recipient whose understanding of the recent oil spill in the Gulf comes from 50 years of, as she describes it, "sloshing around oiled beaches and marshes among dead and dying animals," and "diving under sheets of oily water."

Two weeks ago, Earle, testified before Congress on the ecological effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In her guest post, she addressees human activity that has threatened the ocean long before the Gulf oil spill, or those that preceded it:

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