World Ocean Day 2011 “Youth: the Next Wave for Change”

The oceans are essential to food security and the health and survival of all life, power our climate and are a critical part of the biosphere.

Keeping it Simple – When will we get the message? When it is too late!!

You think folks are crying Wolf? 
Take a look what humans have done to our water in just the past two years. 
What are the real impacts from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?

How many decades will it take to correct this disaster? 

Background
Although unofficially celebrated for years, the United Nations officially declared in 2009 that World Oceans Day would be held on June 8th each year.

Why do we need a day to celebrate our oceans? Because they are in trouble! For years, the sheer vastness of the oceans made us think that they could swallow up whatever we dished out. That is proving not to be the case. (www.squidoo.com)

Purpose 
World Oceans Day is an opportunity every year to honor the world's ocean, celebrate the products the ocean provides, such as seafood, as well as marine life itself for aquariums, pets, and also a time to appreciate its own intrinsic value. The ocean also provides sea-lanes for international trade. Global pollution and over-consumption of fish have resulted in drastically dwindling population of the majority of species.

The Ocean Project, working in partnership with the World Ocean Network, has been promoting WOD since 2003 with its network of over 1,200 organizations and others throughout the world. These groups have been working to build greater awareness of the crucial role of the ocean in our lives and the important ways people can help. World Oceans Day provides an opportunity to get directly involved in protecting our future, through a new mindset and personal and community action and involvement – beach cleanups, educational programs, art contests, film festivals, sustainable seafood events, and other planned activities help to raise consciousness of how our lives depend on the oceans. 
Closing

A few years ago, folks found out that all of our seas and oceans are connected. What are we going to discover next about this amazing planet – and see that we human have been following the wrong path once again? This is not a soap box for me, I'm just trying to get folks attention to what we are doing collectively creating such a mess for our children, grandchildren and their grandchildren. What really concerns me is how slow we are moving and or reacting to these problems.