Urge your representative to co-sponsor an important ocean protection bill
Summer is finally here and for many Americans that means it's time to head back to the shore. We all know that feeling when you first step onto the beach and feel the sand between your toes -- but what is actually going on under the ocean surface?
The sad truth is that our oceans are in trouble, and we have no comprehensive national law -- like a Clean Water Act or a Clean Air Act -- to address fundamental problems. A variety of threats, including decades of overfishing, pollution of all kinds, aggressive invasive species and severe habitat loss have individually and collectively altered the basic way our oceans function. Marine scientists have called the changes we are seeing in our oceans "the rise of slime" -- where jellyfish, algae and bacteria take over ocean areas that no longer contain and can no longer support other forms of life.
To protect and restore our oceans and ocean economies we need to make smarter decisions about the activities that the federal government funds and permits -- on land and in the water -- that affect ocean ecosystems. "Oceans-21" -- the recently introduced Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act -- provides both that vision and the necessary mechanisms to ensure its success.
== What to do ==
Send a message urging your representative to co-sponsor Oceans-21, the Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 21).
== Contact information ==
You can send a message to your representative directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/ If you prefer to call your representative, the Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121.
The sad truth is that our oceans are in trouble, and we have no comprehensive national law -- like a Clean Water Act or a Clean Air Act -- to address fundamental problems. A variety of threats, including decades of overfishing, pollution of all kinds, aggressive invasive species and severe habitat loss have individually and collectively altered the basic way our oceans function. Marine scientists have called the changes we are seeing in our oceans "the rise of slime" -- where jellyfish, algae and bacteria take over ocean areas that no longer contain and can no longer support other forms of life.
To protect and restore our oceans and ocean economies we need to make smarter decisions about the activities that the federal government funds and permits -- on land and in the water -- that affect ocean ecosystems. "Oceans-21" -- the recently introduced Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act -- provides both that vision and the necessary mechanisms to ensure its success.
== What to do ==
Send a message urging your representative to co-sponsor Oceans-21, the Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 21).
== Contact information ==
You can send a message to your representative directly from NRDC's Earth Action Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/ If you prefer to call your representative, the Capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121.
rudkla - 6. Jun, 23:26
