Just a quick reminder to folks that this Saturday, June 8, is World Oceans Day.  Originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development, support from The Ocean Project, World Ocean Network and others in 2002 really started to solidify the idea for a day to celebrate and honor the oceans that support life on earth.  This eventually led to the United Nations General Assembly passing a resolution in 2008 recognizing June 8 as World Oceans Day effective as of 2009 (more details here).  

So if you live near the coast, take the opportunity this Saturday to swing over and celebrate World Oceans Day in whatever manner you see fit.  Knowing that water covers ~71% of the earth's surface and the oceans represent 96%+ of the water, humanity has a tremendous dependence upon the health of the oceans for our own well being.  Fortunately, over the last couple of decades, we seem to be realizing that our welfare is intertwined with the oceans and we are starting to take greater action to create marine protected areas here in the US as well as global marine reserves.