UM Sea Secrets Lectures 2022

Sea Secrets 2022 with Cynthia Barnett

Cynthia Barnett, Environmental Journalist in Residence, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; and author.

The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans


Cynthia Barnett explores the long, rich and surprisingly profound relationship between humans and seashells. Traveling from Florida to the Bahamas to the Maldives, West Africa, and beyond, Barnett examines the ancient history of shells as global currency, their use as religious and luxury objects, and the remarkable marine mollusks that make them. For eons, shells and their makers have reflected humanity’s shifting attitudes toward and precarious place in the natural world. While shells reveal how humans have altered the climate and the sea—down to its very chemistry—they are also sentinels of hope for human ingenuity and the scientific solutions they represent for our warming world.

Lecture followed by a book signing supported by Books & Books. Cynthia Barnett is an award-winning environmental journalist who has reported on water and climate worldwide. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic, the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other publications. She is the author of four books including Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, which was long listed for the National Book Award; and her latest, The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans.