Photo: Christian Vizl

Each year, somewhere between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic ends up in the sea, to say nothing of the vast amounts of agricultural runoff, untreated sewage, and by-products of coastal development that also make their way into our oceans. Alarmingly, one 2006 study predicted that by 2048, every species currently fished by humans will have collapsed. Still, it seems that no amount of imagery depicting endless offshore garbage patches or sea turtles choked by plastic bags has made any difference. “We are not stopping. Our consumption has gone up. We are continuing the same destructive path,” says photographer Christian Vizl. To counter the sense of hopelessness, the 46-year-old has chosen to highlight the beauty of what’s being lost with a new book called Silent Kingdom: A World Beneath the Waves. “Humans have become very disconnected from nature’s beauty,” says Vizl, who compiled seven years’ worth of work for the book. “We can’t protect what we don’t love or what we don’t care about. Beauty is such a powerful force.” —Emily Reed