This Earth Day, Lets Celebrate the Other 71% Too

We in the Bay Area are fortunate to have green open space, clean water and air and a productive ocean at our doorstep. But 40 years ago fish were dying from industrial pollutants dumped in our waterways, rivers burned and the air in America’s cities were a toxic miasma. Motivated by millions of Americans in 1970, the Earth Day movement fought to reverse these ecological crimes. The Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws under the conservative Nixon administration soon followed.

This year lets celebrate our Redwood trees, our streams and open space, but lets not forget the other 71% of our planet: the Oceans. The oceans provide over half the oxygen we breathe. Over one billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. The ocean influences our climate, our economy and our health. But the ocean is faced with dire threats from overfishing, pollution and acidification caused by carbon emissions. The ocean needs our help. Species threatened with extinction such as the Leatherback Sea turtles and Great White Shark swim in the waters along our shoreline. Endangered Coho Salmon swim through our Bay waters and in dwindling numbers in our watershed.
It is time for an Ocean revolution.
Native American mythology considered our continent to be a giant turtle whose shell we live on, surrounded by ocean: a Turtle Island. This Earth Day join Shark Stewards and the Earth Island Institute celebrating the Earth, but also the majority of our Blue Planet: the Ocean.
Join us with the Pacifica Beach Coalition in a celebration of sharks, whales, sea turtles and other marine life and help make ocean solutions at the Pacifica EcoFest April 26.


Labels: american indians David Brower earth day earth island institute Miwok pacifica beach coalition san francisco bay sea turtles seabirds sharks snowy plovers turtle island whales