Surfers love the ocean — this seems like a fairly reasonable statement to me. No surfer would contest the beautiful simplicity of storms and wind driving ocean waters thousands of miles toward shores where they are pushed to the breaking point by unique configurations of the ocean floor. This is undeniable.
Indeed, aside from merely riding waves, surfers commune with nature in a myriad of ways. Surfers tend to also fish, dive, snorkel, or boat through Neptune’s waters, and as such, a surfer does not have a singular relationship with the ocean. And it is for this reason that surfers should read the article, “The Ocean: A sea of troubles,” in The Economist.
The article elucidates many of the pressures that are threatening the health of our seas. Whether it be overfishing, pollution, destruction of reef habitats, or the threatening of foundational organisms in the ecosystem, it is clear that many of these problems are due to human activity.
And, as President Elect Barack Obama has so aptly stated about our current economic woes, the problems in the ocean are of our own making, and are thus within our power to change. As surfers, it is our responsibility to act.
What is there to do in the face of such massive problems?
A simple letter to your congressional representative can have an impact. Getting involved in your local beaches, pushing for marine sanctuaries, and asking your local markets and restaurants if the fish they sell was caught locally and sustainably — all of this can have minute impacts, which aggregated, would begin to arrest some of the most pressing problems facing our oceans.
And if this is too much to ask, can I ask you to at least pick up that plastic bottle that you always walk by heading back from a session?
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i think that this is horrible!!!!!!!! cant we do something????????????
This is really horrible! I know many people that would help out with this problem, including me! I’m up for it!