While we all wind down another summer this Labor Day weekend, ideally at your favorite beach, we'd like to take a brief moment to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day.  It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the development, growth, prosperity, security, strength and overall well-being of the United States.  Oregon, where I currently live, was the first state to recognize Labor Day as a public holiday in 1887 before it became a federal holiday in 1894.  As income inequality continues to worsen, let's take a minute this weekend to recognize the people who actually do the work by raising a toast to them.

Now for some really great news regarding the ocean, we are more than halfway through the preparatory phase for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: 2021 - 2030. Back in December of 2017 the United Nations proclaimed 2021 - 2030 as the decade of ocean science for sustainable development and since then the prep work has been picking up steam.  In short, this effort offers an "opportunity to create a new foundation, across the science-policy interface, to strengthen the management of our oceans and coasts for the benefit of humanity".  Pretty ambitious, but given we have a tremendous dependency on the ocean:

• 70%+ of the earth's surface
• ~3 billion people depend upon the ocean for the primary food source
• the ocean regulates global climate
• etc.

and we likely know more about the moon and near space than the ocean, a global exercise of this nature is long overdue.  So as we kick back this weekend at our favorite beach, or elsewhere if you aren't as fortunate, allocate one (1) minute of your weekend to consider the magnitude of the dependency the human race has on the ocean and think of one (1) thing you can personally do to minimize your impact.  Thanks.