On Sunday we left the comfort of our hotel and the chaos of the Cancunmesse and the Moon Palace to free dive 30ft into ocean and send out a powerful message about the threats of sea level rise caused by climate change. At 9:00am we boarded the ship and headed out to Islas Mujeres, where the artist and photographer Jason Taylor recently submerged 400 statues as a tourist attraction. But on this day, these statues didn’t serve as a tourist attraction, but rather were invaded by 350.org, Greenpeace and TckTckTck allies’ volunteers to send out a clear message that real people cannot live underwater. This picture shows what it would be like to live underwater: cold, blue, and not for long.
The experience was as satisfying as it was challenging. It was a great way of relating to the 100 million people that will be affected by sea level rise if negotiators don’t agree on a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty at the COP16 in Cancún. As a citizen of Dominican Republic, I thought about our eroding beaches and bleaching corals, and I felt so happy to have taken part in the underwater action because I believe that in doing so we are conveying a message of urgency through art that is much more different than science but equally important.
To see the whole set of photos, visit our friend and allies' gallery at Greenpeace.