Protect the Ocean

By Terry Orr

According to Wikipedia - World Oceans Day is an opportunity every year to honor the world's oceans, 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 1,600 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.

The World Oceans Day 2013 & 2014 theme is:

Together we have the power to protect the ocean

Just remember – without it – there is no life.

From a Childs View

Children Writing About the Ocean

(Precious email to share)

1) - This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6) 

2) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6) 

3) - If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (Terri, age 7) 

4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6) 

5) - A dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head. (Billy, age 8) 

6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs.  (Millie, age 6) 

7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7) 

8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really?  (Helen, age 6) 

9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6) 

10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves in to chargers. (Christopher, age 7) 

11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin, age 6) 

12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8) 

13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass.. (Julie, age 7) 

14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)

15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean He knows all about the ocean.  What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)

June is National Rivers Month

(Google Image)

By Terry Orr

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, tributary and rill. There are no official definitions for generic terms, such as river, as applied to geographic features, though in some countries or communities a stream may be defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is "burn" in Scotland and northeast England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek, but this is not always the case, because of vagueness in the language. (Wikipedia)

Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through a drainage basin from surface runoff and other sources such as groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snowpacks (e.g., from glaciers). Potamology is the scientific study of rivers. (Wikipedia)

The Mighty Mo (Missouri River)
(Google Image)

Missouri, Kansas, St. Johns, Potomac, and Elizabeth rivers, the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are major water areas I have spent my life near or on.  They are all connected and serve vital resources for life.

Mississippi River
(Google Image) 

10 Dying American Rivers (Via Lynn Hasselberger - on May 15, 2012):

Great Falls on the Potomac River
(Google Image) 

#1: Potomac River (MD, VA, PA, WV, DC)

Threat: Pollution

At risk: Clean water and public health

#2: Green River (WY, UT, CO)

Threat: Water withdrawals

At risk: Recreation opportunities and fish and wildlife habitat

Low Gap Falls on the Chattahoochee River
(Google Image)

#3: Chattahoochee River (GA)

Threat: New dams and reservoirs

At risk: Clean water and healthy fisheries

#4: Missouri River (IA, KS, MN, MO, MT, NE, ND, SD, WY)

Threat: Outdated flood management

At risk: Public safety

(Google Image) 

#5: Hoback River (WY)

Threat: Natural gas development

At stake: Clean water and world-class fish and wildlife

#6: Grand River (OH)

Threat: Natural gas development

At risk: Clean water and public health

#7: South Fork Skykomish River (WA)

Threat: New dam

At risk: Habitat and recreation

#8: Crystal River (CO)

Threat: Dams and water diversions

At risk: Fish, wildlife, and recreation

Coal River
(Google Image) 

#9: Coal River (WV)

Threat: Mountaintop removal coal mining

At risk: Clean water and public health

#10: Kansas River (KS)

Threat: Sand and gravel dredging

At risk: Clean water and community health

Crystal River
(Google Image)

Links:

http://americanrivers.org/?gclid=CMq9sY-bvLACFYeo4Aod_A-1ow

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/05/the-10-most-endangered-american-rivers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_rivers_of_the_United_States_(by_main_stem)

Celebrating and Participating in World Oceans Day

(Google Image) 

By Terry Orr

"World Oceans Day is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of oceans to humankind’s sustainable development. It is also a time to recognize the many severe challenges related to oceans. " ~ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

(Google Image) 

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. (Wikipedia)

(Google Image) 

World Ocean Day 2011 “Youth: the Next Wave for Change” (http://kisbyto.blogspot.com/2011/06/world-ocean-day-2011-youth-next-wave.html) was our in-depth article on World Oceans Day last year. 

(Google Image) 

So what can you do?  Check out this site: http://www.oceanrecov.org/activities/events/world-ocean-day-oceanic-big-five-cleanups.html and your local area organizations.

(Google Image) 

Good links to view:

http://worldoceansday.org/

http://theoceanproject.org/

http://www.facebook.com/WorldOceansDay

http://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/act/green-events-in-san-diego/world-oceans-day-in-san-diego.html

http://worldoceansday.org/?page_id=984

http://www.worldoceannetwork.org/EN/page-EVENT___NEWS-WOD__2011-8-124.htm

http://www.euac.org/conferences/celebrate-world-ocean-day-on-june-8th-2012/

(Google Image) 

(Google Image) 

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.