Will it do the Job? — by Paul J. Baicich for World Ocean Forum In mid-September, the Biden-Harris Administration unveiled a new climate and jobs program that it claimed could put 20,000 mostly young people to work in its first year of existence. This innovation, an American Climate Corps, would emphasize ambitious projects like installing solar…

By combining key traits of two bacterial species, a research team at NCState created a novel bug capable of breaking down plastics in salty conditions — at room temperature. This is a scientific first: an engineered marine bacteria to combat the ocean plastic problem. — By Prachi Patel, September 21, 2023 for Anthropocene Magazine Over 14 million tons of plastic litter ends up in the ocean every year, killing thousands of animals and birds that ingest it. …

This week’s topic brings us close to our home waters in Maine: the ongoing, complex dispute between the lobster fishery and environmentalists over gear modification and the entanglement of migrating right whales. The Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association recently addressed the US House of Representatives to discuss amendment to the Farm Bill, a move that would extend the bill’s opportunities to fisheries and marine coastal development.

By Markus H.-P. Müller September 25, 2023 For Global Policy Journal In a process of “guided evolution”, the transformation to a more sustainable economy will be driven by self-referential systems where the usual preference for long-term policy predictability can become counterproductive. Government policy will instead zig-zag to reflect society’s changing sustainability knowledge, technology and needs. We can bridge the sustainable finance gap, but only if finance is delivered in a flexible way that can react to this process of change.

A year ago, I began to prepare a plan for ocean conservation in the context of failure by the international community to define a coherent strategy built on science and policy that would commence the transformational change required by the deteriorating condition of the world ocean. It was to be…

From flooding to droughts, the climate crisis is inextricably linked to water. Protecting the global water cycle can help us achieve many of the SDGs. Public-partnerships can unlock innovative solutions for a sustainable future. — by Mariana Mazzucato, Professor, University College London (UCL) for the World Economic Forum Water is in crisis — as it is both a driver and victim of climate change. This year was supposed to be the year that water finally took its place in the spotlight: the first UN water conference in almost 50 years…

An ethos is defined as “the spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.” In my 2015 book, The Once and Future Ocean, I propose that access to the ocean/freshwater continuum be acknowledged as a universal human right and that we establish a new…

In my reading, I recently came across the phrase oceanic feeling as apparently mentioned by Romain Rolland, recipient of the 1915 Nobel Prize for Literature, in a letter to Sigmund Freud regarding the concept of spontaneous religious feeling, the simple and direct fact of awareness of the “eternal” without perceptible…

The ocean is our origin; we come from water. We are made of water. It is the source and essence of our being. Water is life. As such, in its breadth and duration, it defines our culture, our every thought and act, our every ritual, our every story of birth…