The Power of Blue: Use It on January 13 for a National Ocean Policy

Blue is magical!  Comes in many varieties –cerulean, azure, royal, navy, baby, ultramarine, and cobalt to name a few.  Blue Planet, blue skies ahead, blue moon, blue book.  And, of course, blue oceans! 

Even though many of us love our oceans, we don’t have that many opportunities to show it.  JANUARY 13th, however, gives us that chance!  Next Wednesday is Wear Blue for Oceans Day.  Join me in thanking our oceans for all they do and calling on our nation’s leaders to help our troubled oceans by WEARING BLUE and ATTENDING A SAN FRANCISCO RALLY at City Hall. 

As you may know, the Obama administration is in the process of formulating a National Ocean Policy, which is badly needed to address issues like ocean acidification, overfishing, marine debris, pollution, and renewable energy development.  The administration’s ocean task force came out with their initial policy recommendations in September.  Now, as the final recommendations are being formulated, we need to let President Obama and his task force know how important it is to keep environmental health at the center of any national ocean policy.  We also need to urge President Obama to make the policy official by issuing an executive order this year. 

We had an enormous turn out (over 400 people) in San Francisco this fall when the Task Force came here to hear the West Coast’s perspective on what this policy should look like.  Let’s make sure that the West Coast voice remains strong as the final recommendations are formulated and the actual National Ocean Policy is decided by WEARING BLUE on January 13th.    

If you can make it to the rally –grab your favorite blue shirt and head to the steps of San Francisco City Hall January 13th from 11:30-1:00 p.m.  Pedro Nava and J. Wallace Nichols are scheduled to speak!  (If you don’t live in SF, you can find details here on the other cities that are hosting Wear Blue Cay events, including Washington DC, New Orleans, St. Petersburg FL, Anchorage, Houston, Cambridge, Honolulu, and Seal Beach CA)

And if you can’t make it out to the event –don’t fret –there are other simple things you can do to recognize Wear Blue for Oceans Day:

• Wear blue --get your friends to join you-- and upload a photo to the Wear Blue for Oceans website
• Take Action here:  Send a letter to President Obama to protect our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes

Comments