DEAR CITIZENS OF THE OCEAN,

 
As a unified world community, we are under siege by a pandemic and its consequences, previously unimagined. The world ocean connects us all—to both disease and its cure. Never has this global community been so real and poignant to me personally. We all know, or soon will know, someone directly or indirectly, affected through dislocation, disruption, and sadly, death. It breaks my heart.
 
I believe that the ocean is indeed “the great unifier,” and my work, and that of the World Ocean Observatory, in cooperation with each of you, is to demonstrate this truth even in the face of our greatest challenge. It comes down to us, to human determination to do better, and to use the power of the ocean to heal and restore.
 
I have no other solution but that. But I am writing, as if to you personally, to wish you strength and resilience, to urge your continuing collective force for ocean protection and sustainability, and to enjoin your participation as a force beyond hope, a force for the future as wide, deep, and dynamic as the ocean itself.

Thank you. Be safe. Be well. Hold fast. Lean forward.
 

Director, World Ocean Observatory 



Drop us an email: director@thew2o.net.