Mankind is beginning to see the results of the costs of human-altered oceans.

Animals, plants and even microbes do everything they can to adapt and survive. There is evidence that most species can evolve their way out of trouble if given enough time. The hand of evolution is already being witnessed on those species less able to cope by the emergence of slower growth and smaller size at maturity in exploited fish. John Muir's famous quote comes to mind and needs to be repeated: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."

The scale of man's collective ignorance of these interconnections is breathtaking. We are really sailing into the unknown. Is it wise to drill in the Chukchi Sea?

-- Doug Robbins

Anchorage