Water Flows Downhill: How Looking “Upstream” Can Help Maintain A Healthy Sea

Our planet is in trouble. We are losing plants, animals, and habitats, and the processes that link them are changing. Nature is becoming sick. People have been trying to fix this problem, but the situation keeps getting worse. One problem is people ignore a simple law of nature—ecosystems are connected. For example, when forests are cut down, soil is exposed to rainfall and washed into the sea, where it covers and kills shellfish. We made a computer model to explore what happens when the people making the rules on land are slow to respond to problems in the sea. We found that paying attention to the natural land-to-sea connections can help save all ecosystems from sickness. Our computer model demonstrates to governments that a major solution to environmental crises is to realize the connections between ecosystems, and talk and work with each other. Our job is to make them listen!