Rising Seas and Oil Spills (Thoughts Behind Ocean, Otters, Oil)

by Gregg Chadwick

"Every child put down your toys

And come inside to sleep

We have to look you in the eye and say we sold you cheap

Let’s confess we did not act

With serious urgency

So open up the floodgates

To the rising seas"

- Rising Seas

Written by Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil)

Gregg Chadwick

Ocean, Otters, Oil (detail)

40"x40"oil on linen 2021

On walks along California's Central Coast, I often stop and peer into the swirling mix of seaweed and surf looking for the telltale bob of a sea otter as it breaks to the surface. The tap, tap, tap of otters cracking shells across rocks carried on their chests as they float on their backs in the kelp filled water also gives away their location. Sea otters are voracious eaters, clearing coastal seabeds of purple sea urchins that would otherwise decimate the growing kelp forests.  

By keeping the purple urchin population down, sea otters remove kelp's major nemesis. Sea urchins feed on the holdfasts that keep kelp anchored to the bottom of the ocean. Sea otters feed on the purple sea urchins that devour kelp forests. When the sea otter population collapsed after centuries of being hunted for their furs, the entire ecosystem of the Monterey Bay shifted. 

The bay's giant kelp forests disappeared and along with it most of the sea life that they supported and protected. Matt Simon in Wired's November 4, 2021 article on sea otters explains that, "Keeping the urchin population in check preserves the kelp, which is vital for the ecosystem in two main ways. First, the forest is a habitat for fish, which are the food source for birds and other marine mammals, like sea lions. Second, the seaweed is part of what scientists call a blue carbon ecosystem, meaning a coastal or marine area that sequesters carbon."   

Gregg Chadwick

Ocean, Otters, Oil

40"x40"oil on linen 2021

To get even closer to sea otters, I love to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and their sea otter information and exhibition space. The Monterey Bay Aquarium describes sea otters as aquatic environmentalists: "By munching on urchins, they help kelp forests flourish, and by crunching on crabs, they promote eelgrass in estuaries. But this marine mammal is endangered — and needs our help." The sea otter population along the Central California Coast has rebounded after being feared extinct early in the 20th Century. But a family of resilient sea otters were found near Bixby Bridge in 1938. Due to strong conservation efforts, California's sea otter population has slowly grown to the current number of around 3,000. A combination of legal protection — in 1977 sea otters became protected under the Endangered Species Act — and the efforts of nongovernmental organizations have prompted the sea otter resurgence. But the sea otter's future is still at great risk. Oil spreading south from a single tanker spill near San Francisco or off the pristine Central Coast would threaten the entire California sea otter population. With the recent oil spill in Southern California off Huntington Beach in October 2021, I was reminded how vulnerable our coastal ecosystem is to oil spills and climate change. Coast Guard officials determined that the spill came from a leak in a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy that shuttles crude from offshore platforms to the shore. In response to this latest environmental emergency, I created my painting Ocean, Otters, Oil. 

Gregg Chadwick

Ocean, Otters, Oil (detail)

(Oil Platforms Ellen and Elly Offshore near Long Beach, California)

40"x40"oil on linen 2021

As I painted Ocean, Otters, Oil and other artworks in my Fragile Earth series, I have been listening to the environmentally and socially conscious Australian band Midnight Oil. In 1990 Midnight Oil created a guerilla performance in front of Exxon headquarters in New York City with a banner reading, "Midnight Oil Makes You Dance, Exxon Oil Makes Us Sick," as they played in protest of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. This week Midnight Oil has released a new song about our global climate crisis that illuminates the peril in which we find our fragile earth. This new Midnight Oil song Rising Seas has found its way to the top of my studio playlist and inspires me to keep speaking out, to keep creating, to keep caring about the future of our planet.  

Midnight Oil – Rising Seas (Official Video) ‘Rising Seas’ Available Now: https://MidnightOil.lnk.to/RisingSeas Join Mailing list - https://eepurl.com/cBpcov Website - https://www.midnightoil.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/midnightoilo... Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/midnightoil... Twitter - https://twitter.com/midnightoilband Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/72Kyo... Apple - https://music.apple.com/au/artist/mid... Production Company: Hype Republic Director: Cameron March Executive Producer: Macario De Souza Producers: Michaela Le / Macario De Souza DOP: Sean Ryan 1st AD: Murray Robertson 1st AC: Nicholas Jackson 2nd AC: Rebecca Wilson Gaffer: Steve Schofield Grip: Damian Heckendorf Production Assistant/Assistant Editor: Jarred Lammiman Production Assistant: James Elliott Best Boy: Alan Fraser Wardrobe: Simone Turnbull HMU: Lisa Fulginiti Featuring footage courtesy of Greenpeace https://www.greenpeace.org.au/ Full Lyrics Rising Seas (Written by Jim Moginie) Every child put down your toys And come inside to sleep We have to look you in the eye and say we sold you cheap Let’s confess we did not act With serious urgency So open up the floodgates To the rising seas Temperature rising Climate denying Fever is gripping Nobody’s listening Lustre is fading Because nobody’s trading Wall Street is jumping Still the music keeps pumping If you can’t decide Between wrong and right If you can’t see through All that you hold true Queen of the firmament Lord of all beneath Masters of the universe We’re all refugees And in many countries they adore celebrities Open up the floodgates To the rising seas Dinosaur stories Reliving past glories Lusting for gold F-f-fishing for souls They said it was coming We knew it was a-coming If you lift your game Put your toys away Well it looks like rain On that western plain Queen of the firmament Lord of all beneath Masters of the universe We’re all refugees And in many countries they adore celebrities Open up the floodgates To the rising seas #midnightoil #midnightoilband #risingseas

Gregg Chadwick's Ocean, Otters, Oil is on exhibit at Laguna Art in Mission Viejo, California through November 2021 in the group exhibition SOS Save Our Seas. There will be an opening on Saturday, November 6, 2021 from 3-6pm. 

SOS Save Our Seas

Laguna Art 

November 6, 2021
3–6pm Opening Reception

Featuring special musical guest
Bobby Grey and Friends 

555 THE SHOPS AT MISSION VIEJO, MV, CA 92691 suite 928A

TF. 1-888-9-FINEART | Gallery 949-257-9008

info@lagunaart.com

Gallery Hours:

MON - SAT 11AM - 7PM

SUN 12PM - 6PM

Sea otters: Back by pawpular demand! Once hunted to almost extinction, these ecosystem engineers are slowly making a comeback in California and transforming the coast along the way. pic.twitter.com/zOwCfMs5cp

— Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MontereyAq) September 23, 2022