Cheerful Winter Sights

This somehow always seems to surprise and delight me. Seals in New York-New Jersey harbor in the coldest part of the winter.

The numbers have grown from one or two to maybe 200. So encouraging to see them. Recovery is possible, the water's a little cleaner maybe, fish a little more abundant maybe.

So awesome to imagine the variety and abundance of life that thrived in the area hundreds of years ago.  And what's not cheerful about a big fat seal lounging on a spit of sand within sight of the silver-black skyline of a global metropolis?

This kind of thing is celebrated often and nicely by a great blog: Nature on the Edge of the City by Joe Reynolds.  Check it out.

Every Little Bit is Not Enough

"A fundamentally different economic system is required, if we are serious about avoiding dangerous climate change, based on nurturing well being rather than stoking corporate profit," Adam Corner in the The Guardian.

It's hard to beat that for nailing exactly what's going on.  Priorities are out of whack and they have been for generations.  Greed is not good, actually.

The title of his piece is Every Little Bit Helps Can be a Dangerous Mantra is provocative but also a great point.  Good people thinking that a few small "green" gestures means we're covered leads to dangerous complacency.

Climate change is probably the biggest challenge facing humanity since forever.  It really is hard to overstate it.

Scaling up dramatically to meet that challenge requires many things including awareness, courage, and determination, but it is essential to find that within ourselves and act.

Image: Brian Skerry 

Sea Shift

Stunning.  Needs our help though, starting on land with our electricity.  Let's move away from burning things to light our lives.  Support renewable, clean energy in every way you can. 

Image: David Doubilet

My Completely Unsexy New Year's Wish

Hopeful am I as the sun rises over another ocean.  My hope is that people and governments do whatever they can to reduce carbon pollution.  It sounds so drab but there it is.

If you care about shimmering fish or vibrant corals or Arctic terns or pilot whales, or simply big blue’s breathtaking beauty and bounty, you care about climate change. 

Thus my wholly unsexy New Year’s wish:  Significant decreases in carbon pollution globally and huge increases in clean electricity and vehicles.

Absolutely do I want to see more marine protected areas, only sustainable fisheries management, effective solutions to stop marine debris at the source, and an end to wetlands destruction and polluted runoff.

BUT all of these marine conservation dream victories are useless if carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels continues because that would mean ocean acidification and warming would still be destroying the ocean. 

The deadly duo – ocean acidification and warming – are the direct result of stuffing the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, especially carbon.  Oh, and they are huge.  They supersede all other ocean issues.  It’s almost too much to bear but inserting heads into sand is not an option.

Doing whatever we can, in ways large and small, to stop carbon pollution is a great New Year resolution.  If not for the beauty and bounty of nature or for all the other life with whom we share the planet, if not for God or karma then do it for future generations, do it for yourself, do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Image: David Doubilet