Scuba Dive

Idyllic Maldives...Still Above Water (for now)

OK, I get it.  The Maldives are sinking.  Rising ocean levels caused by climate change will shortly wipe the archipelago off the map.  I keep seeing snippets of news mentioning the islands’ plight and the Presidential efforts to find a new home for the 400k non-gilled individuals who live there.  But the latest publicity stunt to bring attention to the issue seems a bit…wet.  The President of the Maldives and his Cabinet met underwater to sign a declaration calling for global cuts in carbon emissions that will be presented before a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. 

It couldn’t have been a long meeting, since though shallow, they were relying on scuba gear and canned air.  And, communication must have been difficult because, as far as I know, there are no underwater hand signals for “declaration,” “carbon emissions,” or “pass me a pen so I can sign this darn thing.”  Once back on land, the ministers signed their wetsuits and are planning on selling them to raise money for coral reef conservation, which I hope they are not relying on to fund the entire effort.  At last check on Craig’s list, used wetsuits weren’t going for much.  Used wet suits, $15.  Sorry I peed in it, we were down there for awhile trying to get that pen to write.  Finally, after seeing a picture of the ministers congregated underwater, I now understand the message they were trying to send: “Please help us stop rising ocean levels because we look really ridiculous sitting at desks underwater trying to conduct business.”