I walked where the sea used to be. Sweden has been rising out of the sea at a rate of 9mm/year since the last ice age when the glaciers receded. This is now offset by 3mm/yr. of sea level rise due to climate change (so net rise of 6mm/yr.). In the last 150 years Sweden has risen about 1 meter. Not that long ago, maybe 200 years, Björkö where I am now was separated from the mainland (and the island of Väddö). Click on the old/new comparative map to see this.
I walked these former sea inlets. Things are WILD there. Thick, wet, buggy, tangled, itchy, hard walking (sometimes impenetrable and I had to detour). But I think I could see where the sea used to be. Marshy, reedy, dried mud, swamp trees, without incline. Where the sea no longer goes, land life aggressively takes over and new habitats form. Along a wild section of coast, the birds seemed surprised... ‘what is That creature doing out here?’
I think it is fair to ask, why would I do this? To get a glimpse of a geological shift, to witness true creation: the transformation over 200 years from marine life to land life (amazing). And, to sense geologic time: 10,000 years since the ice age, earth rising at the invisible speed of 9mm/year (.02mm/day). And, to place my body in the tangle of this wilderness driven by universal forces to feel the tininess of the human scale in comparison. #Björkökonstnod
