Part eleven of the multi-part BLUEprint Series: How the Ocean Will Save Civilization

It is easy to call for transformative change — certainly in the abstract, with more difficulty personally within, and even more challenging to find and persuade others to join in what is by definition a fundamental risk with no assurance ahead. Many of us fixate on a single point of action, in my case it’s the ocean — a place of exchange of goods, people, and ideas, and a system for decisions and actions based on values of sustainability and equal benefit for all.

That personal realization has involved the examination of every aspect of my identity — my spiritual beliefs, my work, my sense of family, community, and service. And that is difficult enough. And when you add external matters of race, gender, class, sexuality, education, and other differentials of privilege, the challenge explodes exponentially into a full-scale self-examination of my place in the world, my responsibility and accountability beyond myself to family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. And that seems almost insurmountable. …