Many people living in towns and cities have turned their backs on the ocean. Yet they keep us alive. They carry 80 per cent of the world’s trade and they are a vital component of the global climate system. They teem with life and their depths are largely unexplored – we know more about outer space than about our own oceans. We need a new attitude towards the oceans that connect us: we need to look back towards them, reconnect with them, and take care of them. We are kept alive by the tides of the oceans.
Dr David Rooney is an award-winning writer and curator specialising in the history of time, cities, traffic, technology and engineering. He was most recently Keeper of Technologies and Engineering at the Science Museum, London, and formerly Curator of Timekeeping at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. David was Lead Curator of the Science Museum's RIBA-award-winning Mathematics: The Winton Gallery (2016), designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, as well as its critically acclaimed exhibition Codebreaker: Alan Turing's Life and Legacy (2012). He is a trustee of three UK horological charities, chair of the Electrical Horology Group, and sits on the management committee of the Clockmakers’ Museum.