The 2017 Malibu Library Speaker Series continues with Malibu native Jonathan White, author of “TIDES: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean,” Wednesday, May 17, 7:00 PMat the Malibu Library.
“The City is extremely proud of the many talented authors, artists and musicians that call Malibu home, so we’re excited to welcome author Jonathan White to the Speaker Series to discuss his enthralling work,” said Mayor Lou La Monte.
The expert mariner and marine conservationist grew up in Malibu, attended local elementary and junior high schools, was a junior lifeguard at Zuma Beach, and learned to surf at Malibu Surfrider Beach. His lifelong love of the sea includes SCUBA diving, sailing and fishing on the beaches of Southern California. White has logged more than 100,000 miles sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic and has surfed all over the world.
In the 1980s, White founded the Resource Institute, a non-profit educational organization for which he hosted an acclaimed seminar series aboard Crusader, a 65-foot wooden schooner that sailed the Pacific Northwest. Crusader’s odysseys nearly ended in tragedy in 1990 when the boat ran aground and was nearly destroyed on a large tide in Alaska’s Kalinin Bay. Shaken and intrigued by tides and their power, White set off on a quest across the globe to understandthe history, science, and majesty of tides, one of our planet’s most remarkable phenomena.
White will explore the largest, fastest, scariest and most amazing tides in the world. He will recount his travels to the Arctic to shimmy down a hole in the ice with an Inuit elder to hunt for blue mussels in the dangerous dark cavities below with minutes to spare. Hear about the “Silver Dragon” on the Qiantang River in China, a 25-foot-high tidal bore that creates huge waves running miles up the river. Discover the legendary and sometimes deadly Mavericks big wave competition where surfers paddle into 60-foot high waves. Learn about how France’sMont St. Michel monks, Plato and Aristotle, Leonardo de Vinci, Newton, Descartes, and many other noted thinkers were captivated and inspired by the mysteries of the tides.
White will also discuss how tides offer critical insight into the planet’s future as coastal areas and island nations confront the potential calamity of sea level rise due to climate change, and he will examine the exciting future of harnessing tides to generate clean, sustainable energy.
