Hope floats on World Oceans Day

The ocean has always been a source of hope for me. When I watch the sun rise over the Atlantic, as the slate gray water turns blue then green, that peace and beauty at the beginning of a new day always instills in me a sense of opportunity and that brings optimism.

These days optimism can be hard to come by. In the midst of the economic and political turmoil, in the face of a frightening health threat and social injustice, we’re also seeing distressing headlines about rollbacks on environmental protections, and about how the COVID-19 pandemic is leading some people to abandon sustainable practices like avoiding single-use plastics. But on this World Oceans Day, let’s let the ocean inspire us and help us to see that progress is being made, and let’s dwell for a moment in the hope the ocean offers us.

I’m hopeful because people love the oceans and value what it contributes to our lives and our coastal economies. When people value something, they fight for it. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. When President Trump proposed a plan to open nearly all U.S. waters to dirty and dangerous offshore drilling, people who depend on the oceans began making noise. Along the East and West coasts, and Florida’s Gulf Coast, hundreds of municipalities have formally passed resolutions opposing the plan. This “Resolution Revolution” has been growing for several years, but people are holding firm. New rigs could have been in the water years ago, but the vocal opposition from coastal communities, lawmakers and business leaders has held the monied oil industry at bay.

The world is also waking up to another great threat to healthy oceans: plastic pollution. The continued production of billions of items designed to be used once, then discarded, but that are made from a material designed to last forever, is finally being recognized as foolish and impractical.

BBC’s documentary series “Blue Planet 2” alerted the globe to the magnitude and urgency of the problem, and today, across the world, cities, states and nations are taking action to stem the flood of plastics into our oceans.

Just this spring, New York banned the use of expanded polystyrene food containers and loose-fill packaging in the state. This leadership was even more impressive given the

HOME DELIVERY

RATES massive challenge the state faced with COVID-19.

There are many challenges ahead, but seeing global action on this scale has been inspiring. I’m excited to see how we will work together to end this crisis.

I’m also hopeful because I know that the ocean is resilient. We know that when given the space and time to recover, marine ecosystems can do just that.

In the last decade we’ve seen the greatest increase in marine protected areas — sanctuaries where fishing is prohibited — and already those areas are rebounding.

Last November, Oceana helped protect more than 140,000 square miles of seafloor off the U.S. West Coast from bottom trawling — a type of fishing that rips up entire ecosystems. I’m eager to see this important step help to return West Coast fisheries and ecosystems to their former biodiversity and abundance.

In all these cases, people from all walks of life and all political stripes are stepping up. Love for the ocean transcends boundaries — political, economic, racial, etc. This is a bright spot of unity, and one that can help to heal an increasingly divided world.

And finally, the ocean gives me hope because I know that it is one of our greatest weapons in the fight against climate change. Yes, climate change is a dire threat to marine ecosystems worldwide, yet those same waters offer some of our most promising solutions.

Ocean energy has huge potential in the form of offshore wind and tidal power. Wellregulated fisheries provide a climate-friendly source of protein that will reduce the need for deforestation and the exploitation of arable land and fresh water to raise livestock. All of those are climate change contributors.

We face global challenges, and the fight to protect our natural resources has never been easy. But this global pandemic has helped us understand how connected each person is to each other, and to our environment. That understanding brings with it a recognition that we need to become better stewards of our planet — that there is value in doing that.

Now more than ever, we need the opportunity and the optimism that our oceans offer us.