Reliefs No. 7: Shores.
Shores| N° d'inventaire | 28312 |
| Format | 18 x 24 |
| Détails | 184 p., illustrated, paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2023 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782380361162 |
I experienced the pleasure of harmony at sea, a simple pleasure, of a well-trimmed boat, a sunrise or a sunset, the leap of a dolphin or the flight of an albatross. A harmony that is also evident in coastal landscapes: a relief that anchors and reassures, an endless expanse that invites contemplation. A harmony often ruined by a concreted coastline or the daily observation of macro-waste, of which we now know that 80% comes from the earth and which is at the origin of my commitments.
Harmony: this is one of the main lessons I learned in these wide-open spaces, which are sometimes (very) turbulent. The second lesson—also learned from my mistakes—can be summed up as follows: you don't fight the elements, you work with them. This means taking the time to learn and understand, and adapting your way of navigating to the situation you can't fight.
These two lessons are fundamental to my relationship with nature today. They also seem essential to me in providing the right answers to the questions raised by the overlapping pressures exerted on the coastline. For it is partly there that the destiny of humanity is being played out. In this space with contours much more blurred than its multiple names of "coastal strip," "coastal barrier," or even "maritime facade" or "coastline" suggest. A vocabulary of the earthling (and it is good to look at "the earth from the sea," as Christian Buchet suggests), who takes comfort in the tangible delineation of a nature that is nevertheless in perpetual movement.
To understand the land-sea link and all the issues associated with it, we must escape from this immutable and fixed physical representation and imagine this area as a living organ, with large arteries – the watersheds – and their ramifications, going from the top of the mountain to the open sea; an organ shaped by three different dynamics which interact: those of the land, the watercourses and the sea and that of the atmosphere.
We must go back in time with Gilles Boeuf, and relive the changes that took place on the coastline, shaping it as it appears to us today; the biologist speaks of "the scene of an unprecedented biological revolution" and recalls that the coastal marine environment owes its biological diversity to what the land provides it. This is much more crucial information than it seems, because here again it is all a question of harmony: yes, the sea needs the nutrients from the land carried by the runoff of water, but in a tightrope-walking balance. I like to recall here the successful experiment – around the Étel ria in Morbihan – of raising awareness among farmers who, thanks to dialogue with fishermen and shellfish farmers – CAP2000 –, modified their agricultural practices. The agent of the dialogue was called Pierre Mollo, a plankton specialist who was ultimately there to move. Pierrot carried his plankton test tubes and his microscope "from the end of the quay to the end of the field" and revealed the infinitely small. Under his microscope, the clod of earth, like the drop of water, teemed with life. It is to him that I owe having understood the relationship between land and sea.
Understand once and for all that land and sea are linked in a community of destiny and that man, who is part of this dynamic ecosystem, must deal with it, especially if he plans – as the coastal demographic figures suggest – to expand his presence there even further. Dealing with it means, in particular, accepting immersion where it is irreversible and not systematically wanting to build dikes. To convince yourself of this, read Anny Cazenave's predictions on rising sea levels.
To restore harmony, we must put knowledge and the good health of marine and coastal ecosystems back at the heart of the "littoralization of societies" mentioned by Magali Reghezza-Zitt, change paradigms and look at maritime infrastructures as places where we can restore biodiversity. It is also necessary to promote synergy between all the actors whose future is linked to the sea, even more than the simple reconciliation of uses. And perhaps make the ocean a common good of humanity...
I experienced the pleasure of harmony at sea, a simple pleasure, of a well-trimmed boat, a sunrise or a sunset, the leap of a dolphin or the flight of an albatross. A harmony that is also evident in coastal landscapes: a relief that anchors and reassures, an endless expanse that invites contemplation. A harmony often ruined by a concreted coastline or the daily observation of macro-waste, of which we now know that 80% comes from the earth and which is at the origin of my commitments.
Harmony: this is one of the main lessons I learned in these wide-open spaces, which are sometimes (very) turbulent. The second lesson—also learned from my mistakes—can be summed up as follows: you don't fight the elements, you work with them. This means taking the time to learn and understand, and adapting your way of navigating to the situation you can't fight.
These two lessons are fundamental to my relationship with nature today. They also seem essential to me in providing the right answers to the questions raised by the overlapping pressures exerted on the coastline. For it is partly there that the destiny of humanity is being played out. In this space with contours much more blurred than its multiple names of "coastal strip," "coastal barrier," or even "maritime facade" or "coastline" suggest. A vocabulary of the earthling (and it is good to look at "the earth from the sea," as Christian Buchet suggests), who takes comfort in the tangible delineation of a nature that is nevertheless in perpetual movement.
To understand the land-sea link and all the issues associated with it, we must escape from this immutable and fixed physical representation and imagine this area as a living organ, with large arteries – the watersheds – and their ramifications, going from the top of the mountain to the open sea; an organ shaped by three different dynamics which interact: those of the land, the watercourses and the sea and that of the atmosphere.
We must go back in time with Gilles Boeuf, and relive the changes that took place on the coastline, shaping it as it appears to us today; the biologist speaks of "the scene of an unprecedented biological revolution" and recalls that the coastal marine environment owes its biological diversity to what the land provides it. This is much more crucial information than it seems, because here again it is all a question of harmony: yes, the sea needs the nutrients from the land carried by the runoff of water, but in a tightrope-walking balance. I like to recall here the successful experiment – around the Étel ria in Morbihan – of raising awareness among farmers who, thanks to dialogue with fishermen and shellfish farmers – CAP2000 –, modified their agricultural practices. The agent of the dialogue was called Pierre Mollo, a plankton specialist who was ultimately there to move. Pierrot carried his plankton test tubes and his microscope "from the end of the quay to the end of the field" and revealed the infinitely small. Under his microscope, the clod of earth, like the drop of water, teemed with life. It is to him that I owe having understood the relationship between land and sea.
Understand once and for all that land and sea are linked in a community of destiny and that man, who is part of this dynamic ecosystem, must deal with it, especially if he plans – as the coastal demographic figures suggest – to expand his presence there even further. Dealing with it means, in particular, accepting immersion where it is irreversible and not systematically wanting to build dikes. To convince yourself of this, read Anny Cazenave's predictions on rising sea levels.
To restore harmony, we must put knowledge and the good health of marine and coastal ecosystems back at the heart of the "littoralization of societies" mentioned by Magali Reghezza-Zitt, change paradigms and look at maritime infrastructures as places where we can restore biodiversity. It is also necessary to promote synergy between all the actors whose future is linked to the sea, even more than the simple reconciliation of uses. And perhaps make the ocean a common good of humanity...