coming soon... an Oceanic Blog-A-Thon!

Hello everyone!

I just found out that next Monday June 8th is "World Oceans Day"!


It's hosted / organised / coordinated by The Ocean Project. As stated on their website:

"The concept for World Oceans Day was proposed in 1992 by the Government of Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and it had been unofficially celebrated every year since then. Official designation by the U.N. is a significant step in conserving and protecting our world's ocean. World Oceans Day provides an opportunity each year to celebrate our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea.
The Ocean Project, working closely with the World Ocean Network each year, helps to coordinate events and activities with aquariums, zoos, museums, conservation organizations, universities, schools, businesses.
As of 2009, "World Oceans Day" has been officially declared by the United Nations as June 8th each year!"

As someone who fell in love with the Ocean at a young age, and who grew up to become a Marine Biologist and Oceanographer, you'd be right in guessing that this an event I'm particularly interested in! ;o)

I think it's important in this day and age to help increase awareness of the importance the Earth's seas and oceans have for us and the survival of this planet. The oceans provide food, oxygen, mineral ressources... Throughout history (and pre-history) many people's fates and cultures have been intrinsically linked to the sea: from the early uses of fish and other animals for food, shells as currency, various products as dyes... to the sailing of the seas to reach far away lands and develop commerce and cultural exchange (as well as other less pleasant things). And let's not forget the simple inspirational influence the Sea has had on many a poet, author or just about anyone who has spent a few minutes gazing into its depths and wondering at its secrets.

Such a crucial and wonderous element that is sadly under constant assault by human activites. Be these excessive fishing or habitat-damaging fishing, by pollution, or even by global warming... our impact on the Earth's seas and oceans is increasing each year, to the point where perhaps someday we will overload it's capacity to bounce back.

Since it's a bit late in the day to follow the some of Ocean Project's suggestions for celebrating this day, i.e. organise an "event" of some kind, I thought I could go "technological" and host a "Blog-A-Thon" here in cyberspace! :o)
For those who are wondering what a strange term that is... think "blog" and "marathon". Basically everyone participating writes a post in their Blog on the announced subject, and then comes and gives me the link to their post. I'll write up my own post and then a specific "Oceanic Blog-A-Thon" entry where I'll list all the participants in the event so anyone who's interested can go and read what others have to say on the subject.

Apparently each year World Ocean Day has a certain theme. This year's is:

"One Ocean, One Climate, One Future"

More about that if you click on the link above. We could use that as a launching point for ideas, and just take off from there and see where inspiration leads us.

What do you think? Would anyone else be interested in participating? Please say YES!!! And pass the word on to your own readers and let's see how wide a net we can cast! I look forward to reading what everyone has to say on a subject that can lead off into so many different directions! :o)