Treat the Sea With Respect and Take a Hint From Alaska
As with many things in life, we don't always show an adequate level of concern for the objects we take advantage of and supposedly care for.
This couldn't be more true than in the case of our (society's) general relationship with the oceans: the simple fact is that we are woefully deficient when it comes to knowing how to be friendly to the sea.
Though we love to go to the beach and take long leisurely cruises on the family yacht or speed boat, few of us ever give anything back to the seas, merely taking more and more for ourselves with no sense of reciprocity.
That sort of mindset is not sustainable, and is partially responsible for the worrisome degradation of the planet's marine ecosystems.
Though most of us don't realize it, there actually are decisions we can make in our daily lives that have the potential to significantly contribute to the ecological improvement of marine ecosystems in general, and especially those that provide us with significant food sources.
In that vein, being friendly to the sea is synonymous with buying Alaskan seafood products when going to the supermarket or the local seafood market: only by doing so can an individual (a consumer) feel comfortable that they are not purchasing their dinner from a source that looks down on environmental sustainability and violates even the most basic principles of good faith.
The effectiveness with which the Alaskan state government and public and private groups have brought the state's fishing industry into line with the most stringent and ethical principles of ecological sustainability is a testament to the will of an entire population and the capacity for positive change that we all have within us and especially between us.
To show solidarity with the positive direction that the Alaskan fishing industry is being steered in-most importantly marked by a policy that is profoundly friendly to the sea-the most vital decision we can all take is to check the label on all the seafood products we buy, and only take those that say "Alaskan," as they are the only products that give us a guarantee of purity, quality, and ecological friendliness.
This couldn't be more true than in the case of our (society's) general relationship with the oceans: the simple fact is that we are woefully deficient when it comes to knowing how to be friendly to the sea.
Though we love to go to the beach and take long leisurely cruises on the family yacht or speed boat, few of us ever give anything back to the seas, merely taking more and more for ourselves with no sense of reciprocity.
That sort of mindset is not sustainable, and is partially responsible for the worrisome degradation of the planet's marine ecosystems.
Though most of us don't realize it, there actually are decisions we can make in our daily lives that have the potential to significantly contribute to the ecological improvement of marine ecosystems in general, and especially those that provide us with significant food sources.
In that vein, being friendly to the sea is synonymous with buying Alaskan seafood products when going to the supermarket or the local seafood market: only by doing so can an individual (a consumer) feel comfortable that they are not purchasing their dinner from a source that looks down on environmental sustainability and violates even the most basic principles of good faith.
The effectiveness with which the Alaskan state government and public and private groups have brought the state's fishing industry into line with the most stringent and ethical principles of ecological sustainability is a testament to the will of an entire population and the capacity for positive change that we all have within us and especially between us.
To show solidarity with the positive direction that the Alaskan fishing industry is being steered in-most importantly marked by a policy that is profoundly friendly to the sea-the most vital decision we can all take is to check the label on all the seafood products we buy, and only take those that say "Alaskan," as they are the only products that give us a guarantee of purity, quality, and ecological friendliness.