Tide pools give me hope. They give me hope because they are full of life. The nooks and crannies harbor many living things, and a wide variety of them. A single rock is covered with multi-species barnacle community. A pool the size of my foot bursts with anemones, crabs, and algae. There are sea slugs, sea cucumbers, sea stars. How does a tide pool respond to the dismal human discourse about crises of climate and crises of biodiversity? Perched on its rocky substrate, I sense that it chuckles, and says ‘look here, there is still much life to revere’.
The coast of Palos Verdes, CA. 13 May 2023.
Students from UCLA survey species diversity in the rocky intertidal. 13 May 2023.