Volume 248, December 15, 2023

 President Biden’s Ocean Justice Strategy


Today, I want to go in-depth on a brand new program that has the potential to change the way we protect our oceans and cooperate with those who make a living on or near them. To better meet the challenges of climate change, President Biden has launched the first-ever Ocean Justice Strategy.


It’s an action that builds on the administration’s existing environmental justice commitments by proposing equitable and just practices to advance safety, health, and prosperity for communities near the ocean, the coasts, and the Great Lakes.


Climate change harms those who depend most on the natural environment and are least able to recover from negative impacts. The strategy charts a course to provide long-term, sustainable benefits for people, communities, and the environment – with the rapid and just phaseout of fossil fuels in our ocean. 

The vision includes:

 

  • Equitable access to the benefits of a healthy, resilient, sustainable ocean economy.
  • Meaningful engagement of all communities in federal ocean activities.
  • Recognition of the value of engagement with Tribal Nations, Indigenous Peoples, and Indigenous Knowledge in ocean decision-making and research.
  • Expanded and improved ocean education to build knowledge about the ocean and create a diverse and inclusive ocean workforce.
  • Application of an ocean justice lens to ocean research and ways of knowing.

 

Meaningful engagement with ocean justice communities requires effort to build, deepen, and, in some cases, repair the relationships between the federal government and ocean justice communities, particularly for Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities with ties to the ocean. It begins with recognizing the value of engagement with indigenous knowledge in ocean research and decision-making.


The economic opportunities created by a sustainable ocean economy should be accessible to ocean justice communities, including good-paying jobs, educational skills training that builds workforce opportunities, technical assistance to build local capacity, and workforce development in areas that have historically received less investment. 


None of this would be possible without decades of work by Tribal Nations, Indigenous Peoples, ocean justice communities, and elected leaders at all levels of government who worked tirelessly to bend the policymaking arc toward justice—the release of Pres. Biden’s Ocean Justice Strategy is not the end of this work but a beginning.

I applaud the White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar for their work on this important action. Read more about the new Ocean Justice Strategy here.


“The ocean is a life source for us all, but because of historic injustices and underinvestment, some communities are hit harder by devastating climate change impacts,” said Brenda Mallory, the chair of the CEQ. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s new Ocean Justice Strategy will help to address historic inequities, improve the well-being of people in communities connected to the ocean, and safeguard a healthy ocean for everyone.”


“President Biden has made it a priority to address the climate crisis for all Americans,” said Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology. “This strategy clearly sets out our values as the climate changes. When we conduct research, collect data and make decisions about the ocean, we must engage with communities whose lives are intertwined with the ocean and the Great Lakes.”

“For too long, the ocean conservation movement has been pretty exclusionary,” said Marce Gutierrez-Graudins, founder and executive director of Azul, a nonprofit focused on Latinos at the intersection of ocean conservation and environmental justice. “The release of the Ocean Justice Strategy recognizes decades of work by ocean advocates while incorporating many priorities identified by frontline and ocean justice communities. Our ocean is the lifeblood of our planet – we must protect it to realize environmental justice, heal our waters and communities, and the sustenance and joy our ocean provides. Azul has been on the frontlines of advocating for the Biden-Harris Administration to prioritize our ocean. With this Ocean Justice Strategy, we see a strong foundation that will serve as the building blocks to addressing the issues plaguing our ocean and the communities that depend on it – as well as advancing a just 30x30 strategy and global plastics treaty."


“Our coastal Native communities depend on the ocean and the economic, spiritual and cultural benefits it provides,” said Dune Lankard, President and Founder at Native Conservancy. “The White House Ocean Justice Strategy commits to ensuring that ocean policy across the federal government is equitable, effective, and informed by traditional, local and Indigenous knowledge. We will look toward their future actions to ensure that commitment becomes a reality.”


“Ocean Justice means a workforce that starts with a safe, living wage, sustainable jobs that center frontline communities who have been historically and currently impacted by the climate crisis and industry,” Colette Pichon-Battle, Vision and Initiatives Partner at Taproot Earth. “The White House Ocean Justice Strategy moves us closer to a path rooted in accountability that prioritizes people over profit. We look forward to working with the administration in ensuring its commitment to Black and Indigenous leaders and a just and equitable transition.”

If ocean justice is in your wheelhouse, we welcome you aboard with a donation to support our work.


Lend a hand and become a member of the stellar crew hauling on the halyards, hoisting the sails, and moving us onwards with all running lights burning bright. 

Ocean Devotion


This Benedana bandana explores the delicate harmony between the ocean’s mighty giants, the blue whales, and the tiniest forms of life in the sea, the phytoplankton and copepods. Zooplankton feeds the krill that feed blue whales. 


Beautifully illustrated by artist and yogi Emmy Lopes, with border poem and hand calligraphy by Rhode Island artist/musician Jen Long of the Whale Guitar Project, this bandana showcases your interests in and concerns for ocean wildlife, big and small. It’s conscientiously made with organic cotton and ocean-friendly printing to protect marine life!


Proceeds support The Whale Guitar Project. The Whale Guitar is a work of art and an instrument of change that hundreds of guitarists have signed on an epic journey to amplify voices for climate justice and ocean health.


Wear your bandana with pride. It also benefits the Ocean River Institute and our collaborative efforts to create the Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary to rescue and protect the right whales. 


With a $35 donation, we’ll send you an Ocean Devotion bandana. With a $70 donation, we’ll send two. Bandanas are a limited edition, so sales are limited to two per order. 


Bandanas are in production and are not likely to reach you before January. 

Publications:


"How We Created the Hottest Global Average Temperature Day and What To Do About It?" One Green Planet, December 5, 2023



"Commentary: What if there was a Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary?" Gloucester Times, December 1, 2023


"What if there was a Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary?" Seven Seas Media Issue 103 - December 2023


"How We Created the Hottest Global Average Temperature Day and What to do about it." The Eden Magazine, September 2023


"Gasping climate change contrarians." Greenfield Recorder, June 6, 2023


"Saving Forests with Carbon Offset Rewards for Not Cutting, Let Forests Grow Old." E The Environmental Magazine, March 14, 2023


"Slowing Water For Greener Neighborhoods." The Environmental Magazine, December 18, 2022


"Speak for the trees: President Biden should protect public forests." Illuminem, December 18, 2022


"Slowing Water for Greener Neighborhoods." Illuminem, December 9, 2022


"Top Gun at COP27. It's not the plane. It's the pilot." The Environmental Magazine, November 29, 2022


"Biden’s game-changing administrative actions for climate at COP27." illuminem Voices, November 19, 2022


"Taking action to improve plight of right whales." Boston Herald, November 9, 2022


"Revival Coffee in Somerville takes up the Natural Lawn Challenge." The Somerville Times, August 27, 2022


"For eco groups, less lawn fertilizer is key to water crisis." By Dustin Luca, Salem News August 12, 2022


More carbon capture, better water retention and greener emerald bracelets for Dedham.” The Dedham Times, August 12, 2022.


“Emerald Bracelets to Solve Three Of The World’s Greatest Environmental Problems.” by Rob Moir, The Environmental Magazine, June 21, 2022


"Of Mousy and Elephantine Cycles, Managing the CLIMATE CRISIS after Glasgow COP26." The Eden, March 2022



“Lincoln resident promotes natural lawn care,” Concord Journal, Aug 3, 2021


Zumi’s host Natural Lawn Care for Healthy Soils Challenge,Ipswich Chronicle Transcript, Aug 10, 2021


Peabody peak capacity generator need not burn fossil fuels,” The Salem News, Aug 5, 2021 


30% preserved or restored by 2030,” The Salem News, Sep 29, 2021


Pogie deaths, a Mystic River mystery,” Boston Herald, Oct 4, 2021


Remember the right whales with a special day,” CommonWealth, Oct 29, 2021


Retreating Arctic Sea Ice, Sea Ice Formation, and the Stronger Flow of the Gulf Stream” Seven Seas November 2021


"Rob Moir, PhD, Science Advocate," Bloomberg Business, April 11, 2022

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