Shifting Baselines Blog

Is the SB Action Kit effective?

The Shifting Baselines action kit contains the Blue Ocean Institute's Seafood Mini-guide, the coral reef lenticular postcard, a bunch of stickers, and a newsletter from The Ocean Conservancy. Is this good enough? Could it be better?

What can we tell all the people who want to know what they can do to save the oceans? People want to contribute, but what can they do that is really meaningful? We have been barraged by these sorts of questions from the start of this project. Some people even angrily say, "don't call my attention to a problem that you don't have an immediate solution for." Does that mean we should just keep quiet as ocean ecosystems collapse?

There is at least one very good, very general action for the general public to now take part in which is to work towards sustainable seafood choices. There are lots of programs now developing around this. The one we have become fond of is the Blue Ocean Institute's Seafood Miniguide which does a nice job of explaining why you should choose certain fish and avoid others.

But are there any other simple, effective and general activities like this that could be included in the SB Action Kit? Your suggestions are invited.

Posted by Randy Olson at February 17, 2004 10:15 AM