Goodbye, J.
- What fauna! In the first season of chapter IV, I've presented several waves of seafarers from the outboard of the trainee in this corner. However, I would like to use my first article from the second season to pay tribute to a friend and underline the importance of his work: Wallace J Presentation by Nichols.
WALLACE J. NICHOLS (New York, 1967-2024)
BLUE INTELLIGENCE: The neuroscientist and psychologist has contacted aquatic experts and artists to contact Wallace J. This philosophy of Nichols has opened up new questions and possibilities for answers, which has led many sectors to transformation. Among others: health and well-being; education and parenting; art, architecture and design; real estate and urban planning; sports and leisure.
BLUE MIND: Published by Little Brown & Company in summer 2014, it soon became bestseller in the United States and has been translated into many languages.
“J” has been a symbol of the conservation of the sea: marine biologist, water lover, turtle geek, explorer, builder of new movements, father and creator of useful words. All that and much more.
I met him at the Marine Turtle Biology and Conservation Symposium held in 1999 in South Padre Island, USA. Soon I was attracted by his generosity and his enormous knowledge, his time… although scarce, I was always willing to share it with what I needed.
In June the conservation community learned of his death. Thus, we have lost an irreplaceable treasure, but I have no doubt that the J’s blue mind philosophy will thrive as the torrent of a sailboat. From the side, for you, these words:
You have been the forerunner of a new approach to ocean conservation and you have managed to put at the centre a fact that science has abandoned. You've awakened blue intelligence in us: in the well-being of the human being, being close to a sea or a set of water, a jump in water, a stream or a puddle, you've been an example of apology for the positive effects that it has on our brain, without being a neuroscientist. It has shown that the time we spend nearby, inside or in any way in water is good for our cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, physical and spiritual well-being. It has done a lot of work to give it the importance it attaches to the relationship we have with water. And at the same time, mindful of the importance of maintaining the health of these waters, you have devoted yourself to conservation, with your tireless character, throughout your life. Bravo and more bravo!
Your legacy, like a stream of water, will open new roads and go through the peaks of the giant waves. Hand-in-hand, the thousands of blue marbles that have become symbols of the Blue Intelligence movement will create sealess seas in the brains of all over the world... and sheltered from the incessant momentum of that community that you have built, love and protection for the sea will spread from the Bay of Monte Rey to the Comb of the Wind and other seas. Because protecting our fragile blue home is worth it.
Wish you water (I wish you water).
