Category: Timothy S. Johnston

Ocean Polymetallic Nodules are Essential for Sustained Technological Development on Earth

My series, The Rise of Oceania, takes place in the 2130s as people are settling and working the ocean floors. On the surface, countries are dealing with rapid climate change, including drought, famine, rising waters, flooding, interrupted shipping, refugee crises, wars, and dictatorships.  Nations have decided to expand their reach to the oceans to extract valuable and much-needed resources like fish, crops (kelp), and minerals. This colonization has triggered a cold war, full of espionage, spycraft, and outright fighting.  It is a rich and exciting setting for me to write my TechnoThrillers.  But what type of minerals do the oceans offer us? Where are they located, and what are their values? Could their locations and existence really cause global conflict? And shouldn’t we be looking to outer space, the Moon, asteroids, and comets instead?

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