Ecostewards Call On Obama to Protect Our Oceans and Great Lakes!
More than 1800 ORI ecostewards declared "Save the Oceans and the Great Lakes". One out of ten receiving this duck and paddle eAlert answered the call to action. Many went on to comment on why we must have a comprehensive national great waters policy and responsible marine/great lakes spatial planning. We want an action plan where not just the left hand of government knows what the right hand is doing to our great waters, but for all twenty government bodies to get it together. We
need an executive order to better manage our Oceans and the Great Lakes. We need to come together right now.
ORI thanks all of our ecostewards who took action on this critical issue! Special thanks goes to those who took the time to help craft 400 reasons to save oceans and the Great Lakes. The love of and concern for our oceans you showed will send a strong message to Obama and his Task Force. Your words and concerns were not only posted to the government website, your messages were also printed and mailed to Ms. Nancy Sutley, Chair of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). ORI will keep you informed as things evolve with the National Ocean Policy.
Here is just a sample of the wonderful comments made by fellow ecostewards:
"As former residents of Nantucket, MA and as life-long sailors, we are vitally interested in the survival of clean waters. We have seen first hand the scouring of the bottom by dredgers and the wasting of fish caught over the limit (and thrown back, dead) and by-catch, also discarded dead. The fouling of ocean water, besides damage to creatures on land and in the water, causes damage to the tourist industry as well as to human residents of the shores. In sum: the oceans and lakes need protection from the uncaring and the greedy."
Joan of Bell, FL
"I love our oceans, and as a 18 year old high school student I don't want to see it deteriorate over my life. I love the beaches, waters, fish, whales and dolphins, birds, and especially the sharks. Please, do what is right, and implement new regulations, and education to protect these national treasures."
"It is imperative to protect our marine life for numerous reasons. There is an abundance of knowledge we can gain from a healthy ocean. Not to mention our oceans’ value is something we can not possibly measure unless we one day harm it's resources irrepairably by negligence, and that is something we all must not allow to happen!! Our oceans and marine life are astonishingly beautiful and highly valuable. They are being jeopardized by the lack of strong implemented policies. This must be quickly addressed to ensure adequate protections for the future of our oceans, lakes and surrounding land masses."
- Deborah of Colorado Springs, CO
The health of our oceans and fresh water suplies is tied in inextricably with that of the ecosystem and our own individual health.To allow pollution and degradation to continue is to endanger all life, including yours, mine and especially that of future generations. No short term, (or even long term) financial profit is worth more than the health, life, and beauty it destroys.
- Alex of Long Branch, NJ
Dear Sir, without clean and safe water ALL life will die and we all should take our responsibility to prevent our water from more pollution now and for the future. I urge you, on behalf of ALL lives
here on this planet, to take a strong stance against more pollution of our oceans and to force companies ánd common people to handle our water with respect and care! "We do not inherit Our Earth from Our Ancestors, We borrow it from Our Children...." ~Native American proverb~
- Suzanna of Zuid-Limburg, Netherlands
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