When you are tired of talking to climate deniers, it can be a relief to hear from a fisherman instead.
“The waters are changing,” says Michigan fisherman Ed John in this short, moody video that follows a Native couple fishing the Great Lakes. “We’ve got algae, we’ve got invasive species, we got all of these pollutants we don’t know about going into the water.”
This year, Ed and his wife Cindi noticed that the species they usually find around 5o or 60 feet below the surface are now hanging out between 80 and 90 feet deep. “That’s telling me that the water temperature is getting warmer,” says Ed. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”
When your livelihood depends on the subtle details of a complicated ecosystem, you are going to notice when those things change. Whitefish are disappearing, Cindi points out, and they’re not quite sure why, but it probably has to do with the warming waters.
We might not be able to expect fishermen (or anyone, at this point) to pass comprehensive climate legislation, but we can thank them for helping us see the changes already shaking up our climate and our daily lives.
