Opening, Part II

This opening chapter introduces the ocean and its coastal seas’ threats from strong anthropogenic pressures. Addressing these threats requires a great change in human behavior, as communicated by scientists and in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To meet this challenge, the science community must work across many academic disciplines using trans-disciplinary approaches and develop new skills for communicating with society. Such communication occurs via drama, scientific and literary writing, and global and regional assessments conveying increasingly urgent information. However, new and more facts alone may not be enough to change behavior. The chapter opens with a discussion of the need to couple science and the arts, with the latter providing knowledge of societal and human values necessary to foster change.