Reversing Climate Change
Reversing Climate Change
Ross Kenyon
The universal cannibalism of the sea vs. one insular Tahiti—My favorite chapter of Moby-Dick
8 minutes Posted Dec 27, 2025 at 8:01 am.
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Show notes

With a matchup like that, who would win?

I love this chapter from Moby-Dick. It so perfectly contrasts sublime beauty of the world and the raw horror of life. I was thinking of it often while on my recent sailing trip aboard the Statsraad Lehmkuhl from Seattle to San Francisco.

Sit back and let me read the chapter for you, and may it inspire you to crack open some Herman Melville.

Resources

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Chapter 58: Brit, from Herman Melville's Moby-Dick; or The Whale

"377: One Week Before the Mast—A Climate Sailing Travelogue from Seattle to San Francisco"

"ASMR: Your one-hundred year-old Norwegian tall ship is sailing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean"

"The Beauty and Terror of the World", the Substack piece which has the full chapter text and me reading it

Resources

This episode's page on the web: https://www.rosskenyon.com/p/the-beauty-and-terror-of-the-world

Subscribe to the Reversing Climate Change Substack: https://www.rosskenyon.com/subscribe

Books from the show, at Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/reversing-climate-change

My other show, Climate Workers Anonymous: https://www.climateworkersanonymous.com