Ocean Research and Education Funding Should be Global Priority!

 
The global economic crisis/recession has had one positive impact despite the hardship that many are suffering: nations the world over are admitting the effects of unsustainable economic policies and are at least willing to discuss climate change treaties, etc…   The skeptic may warn that the world will revert to its “consumption at all costs” mentality as the economy improves, but I think it will be difficult to put the sustainable genie back into  it’s bottle.  The alternative energy/sustainable living  industry is likely to be the engine that will drive the world economy for decades.  The announcement by Wal-Mart this week giving the details of it’s “sustainable packaging scorecard” is an indication that business is embracing sustainability in a big way.  We must ensure that we embrace sustainability in a thoughtful way, not merely as a markting tool or we will fail in our efforts.

How does all of this relate to the ocean?  The ocean covers over 70% of the earth, and we know very little about it.  The ocean impacts global climate and ecology in ways we do not yet understand.  The funding of ocean research and the education of the public regarding the importance of the ocean has never been so critical.  The world will increasingly look to the ocean as a source of power and it is crucial that we understand what the implications of that will be.  We destroyed ecosystems on land in our desire for energy and economic growth, we cannot allow that to happen to the ocean. The primary reason for this is that our knowledge of the ocean is so limited,  we do not really know what the ramifications will be.  

Funding ocean research and public education as well as having marine scientists work together with ocean power developers, will help to ensure the integrity of the ocean environment going forward.  The world may not be able to live with the results if we do to the ocean what we did to the land.

I always like to include a video in my posts, as the visual impact of ocean video footage conveys what words cannot.  Below please find a short video with Dave Gallo highlighting the wonder of the ocean.

Short URL: http://www.oceanpowermagazine.net/?p=408

Posted by Gordon Smith on Jul 17 2009. Filed under Featured Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.