World Oceans Day

World Oceans Day is being celebrated by millions of people all over the globe. Be a part of the movement to protect our oceans!

Visit http://oneworldoneocean.org and http://worldoceansday.org to see more amazing videos about the ocean and learn what you can do to help protect it.

As you can see from the video and accompanying text, today is World Oceans Day, exactly the kind of holiday I want to celebrate here.  I'm not alone in doing so.  Follow over the jump for videos marking the day from the U.S. State Department, The Weather Channel, and Discovery News, along with an accompanying link to an article and slideshow.  The BBC also makes a cameo.

U.S. Embassy in Brussells: Celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8

June 8th is World Oceans Day! Oceans are the life support system of our planet. Oceans regulate our climate. They provide the majority of our oxygen. The oceans are a global resource that we all rely upon.

This video was produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs in May 2013. The featured speaker is Philippe Cousteau, president and co-founder of Earthecho International.

The State Department does a good job of giving an overview of the issues.  The Weather Channel has better images in World Oceans Day, but concentrates almost entirely on the interaction between oceans and climate change.



June 8th is World Ocean Day.
Discovery News gives the most detailed summary of the importance of our oceans, the problems they face, and what we can do about them in The Ocean Is In Danger!

Tomorrow is World Oceans Day. Anthony looks at the dire state of perhaps the most interesting and diverse part of our planet.

The Discovery News website hosts the accompanying slideshow, World Ocean Day Awesomeness.

June 8 is World Oceans Day, and in recognition thereof, groups and individuals around the world are holding events - from cleaning up a wetland in Cape Town, to "creature observation" on the tidal flats of Japan's Shiba City, to a day-long festival in Santa Barbara - of oceanic celebration and education.

It's great that the ocean has a day all of its very own, of course, and even better that the United Nations has given the day its official imprimatur. But there's a case to be made that, frankly, every day should be ocean day. After all, Earth is the only planet known to have liquid water on its surface and the only planet known to have life. These facts are not coincidental.

I have a distant personal connection to that "day-long festival in Santa Barbara."  It's one of several events being held at National Marine Sanctuaries.  During the summer of 1986, I was a Park Ranger at Channel Islands National Park, which at the time also administered the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, now headquartered in Santa Barbara.  Part of my salary was paid for by NOAA in return for the NPS running CINMS, and I wore a special NOAA uniform instead of my Park Ranger uniform once a week in acknowledgement.  That means that the Santa Barbara Ocean Festival is being sponsored by one of my former employers.

Finally, the promised story from the Beeb: Study finds shipwrecks threaten precious seas
By Matt McGrath

A new report identifies the world's most dangerous waters for shipping and says accidents pose a particular danger for some of the most ecologically important areas.

The research says the worst accident hotspots are in the South China Sea, the Mediterranean and North Sea.

Losses are more likely in the future as the number of ships is expected to double, the authors warn.

The study has been carried out for WWF International.

Happy World Oceans Day!