As we are 2+ days away from turning the page on 2021, and would suspect everyone in the US is ecstatic about this given how 2020 has gone (except for a soon to be ex President), I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate that on New Year's Day it is finally the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. 

This is an incredibly important moment for humanity's well being, given the ocean is responsible for at least every second breath we take, that we have been building towards since this was announced by the United Nations in 12/17. And since that announcement, science has been bashed, denounced and kicked to the curb at just about every opportunity, but here we stand on the cusp of what could be the most important decade in the ~200,000 years of human history.

YES, IT'S THAT IMPORTANT!  The ocean is the primary life source on this planet with it's aforementioned ability to produce oxygen and provide food for billions, yet here we are having to address the impacts of climate change / ocean acidification, overfishing and ocean plastic pollution and time is running short as we have the next decade to substantially change our course or later this century face some very unpleasant consequences (2:25 mark, but worth watching the entire video and graphic language warning). 

That being said, with the recent Presidential election here in the US, we are turning a corner ourselves and just in the nick of time.  While the ocean again has an ally in the White House, there is much work to do so let's try to enjoy the last couple of days of 2020 and get ourselves prepared to address the challenges facing our ocean, our life source.