How many gazillion ocean conservation campaigns can one planet support? UNEP announced last week its new initiative, called Earthdive, which, among many objectives, will include monitoring of coral reefs. But I thought Reef Check was doing that. And Reef Relief. And the Coral Reef Alliance. And the Ocean Conservancy. And ...
Sorry, I'm just echoing the sentiments that we heard at our Roundtable evening last January -- the general feeling that, "there are so many groups doing so many activities that seem so repetitious and over-lapping, you just don't know who to support." It's a genuine problem -- maybe just a communications problem, but definitely a problem. The public is not wrong on this. You can hear the sound bites in the video of our Roundtable event on our FILMS & PSAs page.
Not saying that we have any better answers, just noting that its a problem. Personally I think that David Helvarg's efforts at trying to unify ocean conservation into a single "Seaweed Rebellion" is the right direction. But how many of these groups really want to follow someone else's lead?
Posted by Randy Olson at August 6, 2004 04:19 PMThe plethora of ocean conservation groups is amazing. They each have their 'pet' projects & concerns. And many, if not most, are effective to an extent.
But--what if they were organized? One consistent voice would be overwhelming. Businesses and governments would have no choice but to listen and act.
It's hard enough to convince the general public that ocean conservation must be done. Trying to convince ocean conservation groups to follow someone else's lead might be even tougher. To overcome the 'pet project' problem, we need to realize that the ocean is one big connected system--we need to take care of ALL of it, not just select parts.
Posted by: Jon Rusho at August 7, 2004 06:31 AM"Seaweed Rebellion" is an excellent catch phrase for this. At another level, seaweed is a very important indicator of ocean health because changing trends in these plants can tell us a lot about the fundamental nature of what is changing in the ocean ecosystem. Seaweeds can also offer clues as to what might best be done to reverse the current problems. In a now-stressed living web that ultimately depends on photosynthesis, seaweeds deserve a closer look.
Posted by: Debbie MacKenzie at August 9, 2004 05:42 AM