Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, issued the following statement in response to a significant new direction in ocean management announced by President Barack Obama today.
"Today the President took a major step forward to protect the nation's ocean resources and environment. It is now widely recognized that the health of the oceans is in decline from a variety of uses and abuses. We have long had the need for a more comprehensive way to manage our ocean resources that takes into account the marine system as a whole, rather than focusing simply on its individual parts. With today's announcement, we finally have the political leadership to make this long-sought goal a reality.
"Six years ago, the Pew Oceans Commission recommended a national ocean policy as critical to maintaining and sustaining America's marine environment. Today, the President has seized the opportunity not just to change the way we manage marine resources, but to transform our society's perspective about the sea from one of simple exploitation to that of careful, science-based stewardship of this critically important economic and environmental resource."
Among its cardinal recommendations, the Pew Oceans Commission called for establishing an enforceable national policy to protect, maintain and restore the health of marine ecosystems. This will not only support economically and culturally valuable fisheries, but also provide countless recreational opportunities for the public and protect critically important ecological services, such as air and water purification.
The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-governmental organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improving public policy, informing the public and stimulating civic life.
"Bright-green environmentalism is a call to use innovation, design, urban revitalization, and entrepreneurial zeal to transform the systems that support our lives."
Alex Steffen coined bright green in 2003, but 2009 could be its breakout year, thanks in large part to the new administration in Washington, D.C. From the campaign trail to his inaugural speech to last week's address to the joint congress, President Barack Obama has consistently brought the conversation back to sustainability and energy efficiency. "No recent president made energy and the environment such a centerpiece of his inaugural speech, not even Jimmy Carter, who burned much of his political capital, not to say cardigans, struggling to rejig America's energy habits," wrote Keith Johnson, eco-blogger for The Wall Street Journal, in January.
