We enthusiastically re-host David Gallo, deep deep Ocean scientist “A pioneer in ocean exploration, David Gallo is an enthusiastic ambassador between the sea and those of us on dry land” Filing scouting reports on #biomomicry, the re-cahooting of science and wonder, reverie & aha! all our kin eager to guide us humans, back into the choreography of creation…
A 5th century CE mosaic representing the Greek sea-goddess Thalassa
David Gallo PhD
is an American oceanographer and explorer.
For nearly 30 years he was Director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – a preeminent, globally recognized scientific laboratory. Subsequently he was Senior Adviser for Strategic Initiatives at RMSTitanic Inc., a position he had to give up because of CoVid-19. Today, although independent he remains at the forefront of ocean exploration, participating in, being witness to and communicating the development of new technologies and scientific discoveries that shape our view of planet earth. With more than 16 million views his TED presentation “Underwater Astonishments” has been among the all-time top TED Talks.
And yet he washes up now, on our humble shores…
to share the dreams he has been collecting
As a child David was challenged in the classroom by both ADD and a non-verbal learning disorder. As a result, his performance in the classroom suffered and despite his dreams of exploration he was told that he did not have the grades or aptitude to pursue science as a career or to even continue his education beyond high school. Dejected he spent 6 years selling shoes. In 1976 at the age of 24, his curiosity and passion for exploration was ignited again by an article in National Geographic Magazine about deep sea exploration authored by Dr Robert Ballard (discoverer of RMS TITANIC).
(He entered the State University at Albany (SUNYA) and within 3 years made his first dive to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the submarine ALVIN, earned a bachelor’s degree in marine geology and presented his first research paper at an international conference. By 1983 he received a master’s degree in geology from SUNYA and finally a PhD in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island.
In 1987 he was invited by Dr. Robert Ballard to join his team at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as Assistant Director of the Center for Marine Exploration.
David has participated in expeditions to all of the world’s oceans and was one of the first scientists to use a combination of robots, autonomous vehicles, and submarines to explore the deep seafloor. He co-led an expedition to create the first detailed and comprehensive map of the RMS TITANIC as well as leading the successful U.S. effort to locate missing Air France flight 447. He is currently involved in planning the most advanced expedition everc onducted to the wreck of RMS TITANIC.
Dr. Gallo remains active in encouraging the development of new technologies for ocean exploration and he is dedicated to exposing young minds to the excitement and importance of exploring the world around us. He was a member of the First Lego League Global Advisory Team, a participant in the Aspen Challenge (with the Aspen Institute and Bezos Family Foundation), a proud member of the United States Nifty Fifty Scientists and Engineers, and an Advisory Board member of the XPrize Foundation. )
David has become increasingly outspoken about the relationship between humanity and the sea. He feels strongly that instead of taking the oceans for granted we need to recognize the oceans critical role in providing the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. At the same time Dr. Gallo feels that it is clear that human activity has impacted the ocean on a global scale and with significant consequences. The oceans hold the clues to our past, they control our present, and they are the key to future life on this planet. Despite the importance of oceans they remain mostly unexplored and poorly understood.
Dr. Gallo is personally committed to keeping curiosity alive. He has lectured internationally to audiences ranging from children to CEO’s with the goal of awakening the little bit of Jacques Cousteau and Jules Vernes that resides in each of us. He has given numerous TED and TEDx presentations and has appeared in numerous documentaries (Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic). He is also no stranger to televised national and international news programs such as Face the Nation (CBS), Good Morning America (ABC), The Today Show (NBC), The Weather Channel, PBS, and MSNBC).
During July 2014 he was invited by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to be the featured speaker at the Ramadan Majlis.
In recognition of his role in exploration and science communications David is a recipient of a Computerworld-Smithsonian Award, the Explorer’s Club Lowell Thomas Medal, and the Frances Hutchinson Medal of the Garden Clubs of America. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a National Fellow of The Explorers Club, a TED-All Star, and a recipient of the Lotus Club Distinguished Achievement Award.
https://www.ted.com/speakers/david_gallo
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_gallo_underwater_astonishments
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Here be our curious about everything – deeply- ally…
A scientist with the soul of a poet…
a fellow Water Dragon, and like all Dragons has Jupiter in Taurus, his one earth planet…
But a great one…learning guided by participatory animism….(and let’s include Chiron the Mentor in Capricorn, all humming…)
(only one water, as well, Uranus) so Earth and Water complete him… He was a geologist before becoming one of the few great deep-deep Ocean scientists,
squares his North Node in Aquarius conjoin his Mars…
So yes, May human community be guided by bio-mimicry…
He has in his birth assignment – the very thing on all of our work tables- that Aquarius-Taurus assignment to wed them back into their originating harmony…
And Saturn and Uranus be transiting his pattern as well as Mars and Venus training…
And I especially love and honor his Jupiter in Taurus quincunx Moon in Libra – the two Venusian realms- to be a cultural emissary (Moon Libra, and he loves fashion!) on behalf of Jupiter in Taurus…
His Moon “a canoe having passed through dangerous rapids finally reaches calm water.”
(Transiting Jupiter at 9+Pisces exactly quincunx his Moon)
If we all paddle together- we can do impossible things!
All Woofy well wishing…
to a great contributing cultivated kind human…
*Biomimicry….designs derived from Nature,
for which we have endogenous receptors…
*Pragmatic Mysticism – Dreaming the desirable world into being…
*all danger as incentive to experiment (“Be jaunty, even though fully informed” Wendell Berry)
*If we all paddle together – we can do impossible things…
*Re-designing how we learn (David first brought this up 11 years ago…ever more pertinent…)
* “Crafting the future by gazing at the caravan of our past mentors,”—who might be among our favorite mentors, not limited to human…
* Let us aspire to be Ambassadors betwixt Human culture and Natural World,
dissolving the separation….
(Neptune says “Solve et Coagula, Dissolve and re-imagine.” “Dissolution is the secret of the Great Work..”)
*Everything alive- animism – not a belief, but manners of relating…
Everything alive – stories come alive in fresh telling as cultural guiding…
What stories want us to tell them?!
Magnetizing the irresistible invitational story
*Democratic Animism – Now!
(How might we wheel and deal back-stage with what we love – that some of what’s coming at us – be metaphoric rather than literal…And what dedications would we put on the negotiating table?)
I am crazy (majnoun) about the Jupiter Pisces sextile Uranus…The two biggest path openers in creative cahoots…
If we all calm down and get out of our own way, so the Will of Heaven may work through us, then our guided by auguries path unfurls elegantly…in patterned symmetry
Wowza!
300 year old sponges!
“Sponges don’t usually elicit such excitement. The simplest and earliest of all animals, they mostly sit in place, filtering small morsels of food from the water. But while most sponges are a few centimeters wide, those on Karasik were giants—some a whole meter in diameter. And there were just so many of them. In high-Arctic waters, “maybe every 10 meters you find a worm, every 100 meters a sea cucumber, and every kilometer a sponge,” Boetius said. “We never thought that we’d find an area close to the North Pole where we couldn’t see the seafloor because of the sponges sitting on top of each other.” And on top of them was a bustling menagerie of worms, starfish, snails, crabs, shrimp, clams, and corals. Boetius and her team watched the creatures in awe. They had initially come to Karasik because they thought it would be geologically interesting, if biologically barren. “We were completely shocked to see that it was crawling with life,” she said….”Perhaps once the sponges die off, their remains will nourish other communities thousands of years in the future. For now, they’re thriving in an otherwise inhospitable world, by devouring the abandoned cities of long-extinct creatures that once ate the ocean’s farts.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/02/sponges-arctic-worms-volcano/621621/
