I have always loved the oceans. My father was a Navy man and one requirement he had for us growing up was that we had to live near a body of saltwater. I was raised listening to foghorns by night and being chased by horseshoe crabs by day.
The oceans are filled with so much life and variety -- nearly all of it hidden from our sight. This makes the process of learning about the seas an endless series of surprises, a constant discovery of secrets. Like a lot of us, I always thought the oceans were infinite, vast and forgiving of what we were doing to them. They seemed somehow indestructible.
Now we know that's not true and these same features that make the oceans wonderful -- their mystery and other-worldliness -- have also worked to their disadvantage. Life beneath the surface is often out-of-sight and therefore out-of-mind. As a result, we tend to forget a rather important fact: we depend on the oceans for our survival regardless of where we live or what we eat. After all, our oceans generate most of our oxygen, regulate our climate, and directly provide a critical food source for much of our population. We cannot prosper unless the oceans prosper, too.
But as the oil disaster continues to ravage the Gulf of Mexico and the people who depend on it, we are being reminded daily of the often-forgotten value of these resources, and our responsibility to protect them. That's why I was filled with hope today when President Obama announced he is creating the first-ever comprehensive national policy -- like a Clean Air or Water Act -- to protect our oceans. It is now clearer than ever that our country needs this to protect our oceans from the threats they face. If we had a policy like this in place before the Deepwater Horizon rig sunk -- not only would we have better able to respond, an accident like this might not have happened there are at all.
This is the most significant action any U.S. President in history has ever taken for our seas. It will help make our oceans stronger and healthier, and help them fight off the myriad of threats they face today. It will help clean up the pollution that contaminates our beachwater, protect endangered species, keep the seafood we love on our plates, and make the oceans more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
My recent film, Avatar, took viewers to a magical place called Pandora, where the residents fight to save the natural world they depend on for survival from destruction at the hands of humans who have invaded their planet. You may not know that I also recently narrated a short documentary film called Acid Test, produced by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which looks at the fight to save our oceans right here on Earth. While we can see the impacts that the oil disaster is having on the Gulf and its residents, Acid Test explores a less visual secret our seas have kept from scientists for too long -- a phenomenon called ocean acidification -- and what we must do to protect them from this new threat.
For decades, we've known about the link between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. Only recently did scientists begin to realize that carbon dioxide emissions, about one quarter of which dissolve in the ocean and turn into acid, threaten dramatic changes from the bottom to the top of the food chain. Called ocean acidification, this process puts coral, shellfish and some plankton at direct risk and threatens repercussions to the fish, birds, dolphins and whales that depend on them for food.
If our oceans are to survive acidification, there are two critical steps we must take. First and foremost, we must cut our carbon emissions and transition to a clean energy economy routed in efficiency and renewable power. And second, we must make our oceans as healthy, and therefore resilient, as possible in the face of the coming impacts -- President Obama has set us on that path today.
The creation of a national policy shows us there are solutions, and we can achieve them. It fills me with promise for a future of healthy oceans. And, in the face of the oil disaster and ocean acidification, it leaves me with hope that this generation, and those that follow, will still be able to share in the wonder of the sea for years to come.
I just hope he dosen't call them "Savvy Oil Men"
http://open.salon.com/blog/john_csakany/2010/07/21/southern_discomfort_on_an_oil_rig
The reason why EPA ignores this waste is the result of an incorrect applied water pollution test, developed around 1920, EPA used for its regulations. Although EPA acknowledged this in 1984, in stead of correcting the test, it allowed another test and thereby officially (without notifying Congress), not only lowered the treatment requirements from 100% (elimination of all pollution by 1985) to a measly 35% treatment, but also officially ignored this nitrogenous waste with all its consequences we now experience. In 1987 EPA of the record stated that this test and regulations should be corrected, but that this was impossible since it would require a re-education and re-tooling of an entire industry, which obviously can not be held accountable because of incorrect testing. Another reason probably is that much better sewage treatment is not only available, but actually would cost less, while even that was acknowledged by EPA already in 1977.
Since the test is worldwide incorrectly applied, it is not surprising to see dead zones world wide. Sadly nobody seems to care.
Man, it is fun to be back in third grade again!
With all respect, I don't see how a blanket policy would dissolve the very tight bonds between the regulatory agencies and the industries they're mandated to oversee, regulate, sanction, etc. And I don't see how in proposing this policy the President can escape looking like he's offering too little too late, making only a politically-expedient and symbolic gesture.
False dichotomy - and if you read Huff Post I'm sure you're somehow aware of that. Have you seen this report from yesterday (below)?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/interior-secretaries-unde_n_652110.html