Globally Green Living

NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program announced today their ocean literacy and public awareness campaign featuring Sanctuary Sam. Sam’s a California sea lion who has been chosen to be the program’s “spokes-sea lion”.

“What Smokey Bear did for our nation’s forests, Sanctuary Sam has the potential to do, making ocean issues real for all Americans,” said Daniel J. Basta, director of the sanctuary program. “The future health of our oceans depends on all of us caring and taking action. Sam’s charge is to help bring that message to the nation.”

Sam is helping to educate people about the marine environment and bring awareness to issues such as pollution and habitat destruction.

Sam will be offering us tips on how we can be better ocean stewards. He will be featuring the messages “don’t trash where you splash” and “be wildlife wise” on public service announcements.

Some ways we can all improve our water’s quality:

• Conserve water.
• Don’t dump hazardous waste down the drain.
• Lead rain gutters to soil, grass, and not cement.
• Clean septic tanks every three to five years to prevent overflow.
• Avoid pesticides and herbicides and use natural fertilizers on gardens.
• Don’t dump motor oil and recycle it instead.
• Don’t dump boat sewage or trash in the water.
• Clean up litter at the beach.
• Put babies in proper swimming pants.

There’s already a blog and a web page on MySpace.com and the National Marine Santuary Program and OceansLive will be featuring Sanctuary Sam along with lesson plans and other learning materials.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts, and protects.

SOURCE National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

Also see: David Helvarg’s 50 Ways to Save the Ocean

Water Quality at Beaches: Polluted Water Hurts Health and Tourism in U.S.

David Helvarg wrote the book “50 Ways to Save the Ocean” to show how everyone can have an impact on the ocean with the choices they make.

He reminds us of some simple things we can do such as:

• Use less plastic.

• Give up bottled water if you can. If your water isn’t safe, help insist it becomes so. It’s cheaper to protect our natural resources than it is to develop water treatment plants.

• Clean up after yourself when visiting the beach.

• Drink pop out of cans since they can be recycled.

• Use reusable bags.

• Visit aquariums and become more educated on protecting wildlife.

To learn more about protecting our wetlands, coral reefs and fish, watch David’s presentation on 50 Ways to Save the Ocean.

Forget the organic claim and expand on the buy local frame of mind. These days some Americans are checking labels to make sure that what they are buying is, well, American. That means, according to these folks, that the product had to travel less miles around the globe and thus less carbon dioxide emissions were created.

Call me the party pooper but one should also make sure that land or air transportation within the U.S. is environmentally friendlier that shipping things in a huge boat. Because, truthfully, if long distance transportation is able to create less emission per item than short distance transportation (because you are dividing the emissions over a lot more items), then it’s not better to buy American stuff. Think about it like this: if you go to the supermarket in a car once a month and buy all your supplies for that month, you’ll cause less emissions than if you go in a motorcycle three times per week for a month.

Everything is relative these days.

P.S. I do prefer to buy American or European than from other continents because labor practices are usually better in the U.S. and Europe, although sometimes there are exceptions.

I confess that I have a fascination for storms. Actually, it just crossed my mind that I dreamed of a tornado last night. I remember thinking in my dream “Wow, I’m actually seeing a tornado; most people never see one in their lives.” But it was all a dream, and I still have not seen one in my life.

Meanwhile in the real world, we continue to see with bewilderment, respect, and fear just how powerful a storm can be. Hurricane Felix has hit and we await Hurricane Henriette, the cause of the really beautiful image on this post. This year’s hurricane season is a lot more active than last year’s although quite not as dramatic as the year’s before last. It’s like a continuous reminder of how bad it can get when we least expect it.

I often think about how much is still unknown about our planet. It is amazing the beauty and the drama that unfold while we live our anonymous lives. Knowledge is our true immaterial legacy and yet it is also as fragile as the weakest of materials. Our understanding of things constantly evolves thanks to the many people who devote themselves to expand our knowledge. Those people who think that the mathematics, the chemistry, and the physics behind any natural phenomenon are as beautiful as the phenomenon itself, as Richard Feynman put it.

And soon we will learn much more about the ocean, which is the cradle of life in our planet, and that so many times we forget or take for granted.