Oceans - I'm concerned about the state of our Oceans.

Meanwhile, I'm in graduate school as a candidate for a Masters in Public Administration in Sustainable Management. A friend asked me tonight, "Are you really into Oceans? Enough to want to work on the issue when you are out of school?" I believe so, yes. But I don't fit the mold. I do not have a marine biology degree, nor have I worked in policy development or evaluation over the last 20 years, so where do I fit in?

My interest in ocean advocacy started with my disgust with pollution. Waste creeps me out. Humans are incredible dirty beings. My friend pushed back at me on this pointing out that many of our fellow classmates live lives that are much more sustainable than we do - in our big houses and our dependence on our cars. She's right, I live on a hill, in a big house and would never ride my bike anywhere, plus I produce my fair share of waste.

We live in a modern world, get used to it. I can't not work on the issue of pollution just because it may be a bit hypocritical. Indeed, I probably need to do personal work and public work. In the public work, I am excited about ideas like the new EU trial to pay fishermen to collect plastic from our seas. What a great idea! What I love about this idea, is the potential for innovation. Right now, pick up plastic from the ocean is very challenging because it is like picking up egg white from egg drop soup. Monetizing this clean-up effort will encourage innovation and it will be exciting to see this develop.

For my personal life, I'm not moving into a cube anytime soon, but I do have some plans for this summer. They include:

Energy Audit - and necessary changes
Water Audit - and maybe some new dual-flush toilets
Treating my compost pile better
Figuring out how I can better read online - may an iPad?
Figuring out how to use the duplexer on my printer to print double-sided when I do print

Not sure how much of dent in my energy and water use or my waste generation my efforts will make, but it is worth the effort.