President Barak Obama signed a new Executive Order establishing the National Ocean Council. This is good news in light of the disastrous, horrible BP oil spill.

This Executive Order establishes a new National Ocean Policy for the “stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and Great Lakes, which sets our Nation on a path toward comprehensive planning for the preservation and sustainable uses of these bodies of water.”

Below is an excerpt from the Executive Order (PDF):

“Section 1. Purpose. The ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation’s transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security. The
Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and resulting environmental crisis is a stark reminder of how vulnerable our marine environments are, and how much communities and the Nation rely on healthy and resilient ocean and coastal ecosystems. America’s stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes is intrinsically linked to environmental sustainability, human health and well-being, national prosperity, adaptation to climate and other environmental changes, social justice, international diplomacy, and national and homeland security.”

Learn more in the story, “Forging a Coherent Oceans Policy“, in The New York Times. For additional information visit the White House Web page for the National Ocean Council.

To learn how life on Earth is connected by moving water, watch the video clip below from our award-winning children’s movie, The Riddle in a Bottle. Share this video with your kids to help them learn about the importance of ocean and water conservation.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.