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A Blue New Deal for a Blue Marble Planet

By David Helvarg

Sylvia Earle likes to say ‘No Blue, No Green’ in explaining the role of the ocean as the incubator and cradle of life on earth, also the driver of climate, weather and rain, the generator of over half the oxygen we air breathers consume and the salty home of some of the deepest, widest, weirdest habitats and marine critters from eel grasses to methane seeps, sarcastic fringeheads to narwhales.
Incredibly, after four billion years of ocean evolution, all of this has now been put at risk by our own species’ thoughtless and greedy actions over the last fifteen decades or so.  We’ve been ignorant about the impacts of many of our activities failing to adopt the precautionary principle, “First, do no harm.” …

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Uncategorized |

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9th Annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards Coming Up

The 9th Annual Awards event weekend will take place May 20 – 21, 2016 in beautiful Monterey, California. 
Mission Blue founder and National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle will be master of ceremonies for the Peter Benchley™ Ocean Awards – the world’s preeminent honors for ocean conservation that will recognize a diverse group of global leaders for 2016.

Often called the ‘Academy Awards for the Ocean,’ the Peter Benchley™ Ocean Awards will honor a diverse group of eight ocean leaders including the President of Palau, a New York Times investigative journalist, a French sailing expedition, and the Mayor of a San Diego border town.
Past winners have included four Heads of State, U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense, senators, leading marine scientists, journalists, explorers, youth leaders and citizen activists.…

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Can California save the ocean?

By David Helvarg
California, its economy recovering from the Great Recession, is far from the demise conservative doomsayers predicted just a few years ago, a demise brought on by environmental regulation, graduated income taxes and its sybaritic ways.
In fact when it comes to environmental policy, particularly ocean and coastal protection, California is a national trendsetter and a role model for what kind of blue planet we leave the next generation. “This is the only state where you can get elected or lose your job based on your positions on coastal protection and offshore oil,” Monterey Rep. Sam Farr likes to point out.
One reason is Californians’ sense of entitlement to their 1,100 miles of oceanfront. This grows out of the state’s history as a maritime frontier dependent on access to the Pacific for its economic and social development.…

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The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair With the Sea

Written as a celebration of the California coast and the forces that protect it, "The Golden Shore, California’s Love Affair with the Sea" is a passionate tale of one of the most unique and stunning natural habitats to be found anywhere on earth, the 1,100 miles of the California Coast. San Francisco Bay area author and ocean activist David Helvarg is uniquely qualified to take us on this journey of love and the struggle to protect the rugged wilderness that defines the western border of the continental United States.

It may be a slightly dysfunctional love affair. For better or for worse, with ups and downs, lots of hard-learned lessons, and just like in real life, sometimes the lawyers get involved.…

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