---
title: Can real people live underwater?
date: 2010-12-07T01:49:17Z
modified: 2010-12-07T02:40:27Z
permalink: "https://350.org/can-real-people-live-underwater/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 27958
author: 350Dominicana
---

![sites/all/files/gp029aj.jpg](/wp-content/uploads/imagecache/Large_500_pixels_wide/gp029aj.jpg)

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](https://www.underwatersculpture.com/) 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](https://www.greenpeace.org/international/) and [TckTckTck](https://www.tcktcktck.org) 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.](https://photo.greenpeace.org/GPI/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&ALID=27MZIFL3N1_L&CT=Search)