Planet Ocean...or Planet Earth? California acts

We call it planet earth but it's really planet ocean. Seventy one percent of the surface and 97 percent of the livable habitat of our amazing spherical space pool is saltwater. It's the crucible of life and source of delight for so many of us.

We all gain much from the ocean including transportation, recreation, trade, energy, protein, medicine and a sense of awe and wonder at being part of something so much larger than ourselves.

We feel a natural connection to the sea.

We all come from saltwater, both on an individual and evolutionary basis. Our bodies are 71 percent saltwater just like our planet. Our blood is salty as the sea. That may explain why I've always found it easier to sleep by the shore. The beat of the waves is like our mother's heartbeat.


...Hawaii
...Alaska
...and California:

California Rocks The Ocean

September 18 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was joined by Washington and Oregon Governors Gregoire and Kulongoski to announce a regional compact to protect and restore the ocean.

"We now join forces to make sure we are doing everything in our power to maintain clean water and beaches along our coasts," Arnold declared. Not coincidentally, the governor is running for re-election in a state where people really do “vote the coast,” and are hugely upset over federal attempts to expand offshore oil drilling.

The 2006 California and World Ocean conference drew more than 1,000 people from the “blue movement,” including numerous Blue Frontier friends and advisors.

The conference was sponsored by the new California Ocean Protection Council. With hoped-for passage of Prop. 84, a state-wide initiative that could bring over $5 billion to the protection of watersheds, coasts and oceans, this was the kind of pragmatic, roll-up-your-pant-legs gathering that makes me believe there still might be time to create a bottom-up seaweed revolution before our public oceans become dead seas.

The conference's three days of panels and plenaries ranged from developing ocean research priorities to talks by reporters, pols and ocean explorers, reflections on the state of aquaculture, marine education, and California's maritime industries. That's where I learned it's the “Golden Age of Ports.” What with a $37 billion trade deficit with China—thanks, Wal-Mart—I can't wait for the “Platinum Age of Ports,” or however you might say that in Mandarin.

SOURCE: Read full article at: emagazine.com
By David Helvarg

DAVID HELVARG is the author of Blue Frontier: Dispatches from America’s Ocean Wilderness (W.H. Freeman) and The Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide, 2005-2006: The Blue Movement Directory (Island Press).