Caribbean Life - Snorkeling the Reefs (cc)

There's nothing for me that really compares to being in the water.
I love snorkeling. I love being under water & seeing the life.
It's a different planet suddenly. I'm an alien. I've in come to some place.
I'm observing. I can stay snorkeling for hours at a time.
But then I leave. I leave it as I find it.
Unfortunately, not everyone leaves the ocean as they find it.
Today there's a scientific report coming out,
that is warning that the oceans are on the brink of mass extinction.
This isn't in the future. This isn't something that you're looking for in the next 50 or 100 years.
It's happening right now.
I've talked in videos about dead zones. There are dead zones all over the world.
There's dead zones off Oregon, in the Mediterranean, all over.
Species now, like the jellyfish are taking over some parts of the ocean. Great documentaries on it.
But what's happened until now, is that the documentaries have been about specific individual areas.
You can look at the Great Barrier Reef & see that it's dying.
Or the Sea of Japan in Korea where algae blooms have caused the jellyfish to come in huge numbers, taking over everything.
We can look at the Gulf of Mexico and see what's happened with the oil spill.
All different things, but put it all together & you get a much bigger picture of what's happening in the oceans.
And the one thing that we have to realize is that if the oceans go, we're not going to be far behind.
And this isn't the time now for hoping that something will happen.
But we've got to insist that our Governments take action right now.
Canada just can't stand off & think that Carbon emissions & Kyoto Agreements are whatever . . .
We can't be a party to this because our economy is being affected or could be affected.
Look how good Alberta Oil Sands are doing. we can't get involved in stuff like that because it'll have negative effect on our economy.
Nobody's going to have an economy if the oceans are dying & we're next.
You've got to think of the future of the next generation & the generation after that.
There's a lot of strange weather patterns this year. Think about this year.
From the floods & fires in Australia, earthquakes in New Zealand in Japan around the world.
Volcanoes errupting
There's been unbelievable record amount of tornados in the USA with loss of life.
Flooding in Saskatchewan, Manitoba - in Canada, all the way down through the USA destroying farmland.
Preventing crops from being planted.
There's flooding taking place in China right now - It's all over the world.
Record, strange weather patterns.
Is this a result of what we have done to our planet?
Do we need more scientific research to find out that, "oh guess what, it is & it's too late to do anything about it."
Or should we take pre-emptive, preventative measures now?
As much as we can, whatever we can do.
It's not just easy talk.
Cindy & I drive an economical vehicle that gets well into the 40+ miles/gal. It's a Toyota Corolla.
It's not even the high performance model any more.
And our next vehicle will probably be a hybrid. We're going to do whatever we can.
We're going to fly less. And when we fly, we're going to make sure we stay longer, so we don't have to fly often.
Every little bit that a person does, can help make the planet better.
And it's an individual choice.
I know that there's alot of peole out there right now worrying about their jobs,
worrying about their homes, worrying about so many things that are affecting them.
But maybe the biggest worry that we should have is our planet.
The future - the future for our children, our children's children.
It's not about the next 50 years, 100 years. It's about the next year - the next 5 years.
We all have to come together on this.
And we have to make our official Government leaders see value in saving life.
Not in destroying it. Not in spending billions & billions on wars & destruction.
But spending those billions on preserving the planet.
That's how we will have final victory. At least that's the way I see it. (End)