When James Lane Post asked me to write a series of guest articles on caring for our planet, I was delighted. For most of my life I’ve been connected to the natural world and have focused on protecting it, conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends.
My memories of the East End begin in childhood, memories of digging holes in the sand, running to the water’s edge to fill buckets for dripping sand castles and watching the miracle of the sun, rising and setting in what felt like a never-ending day of shells, salt, and sea. I have loved the East End, our coastal towns, and its richness of ocean and community. As a beauty hunter and an artist who sketches, photographs, films and paints, and a beauty hunter, I’ve remained drawn to the silence, space, color and natural light of the East End.
And as many people are slowly emerging from the pandemic, I can visualize the return to summer on our shores and the endless possibilities of time with family, friends and new connections made at the water’s edge.
But as we all know, the oceans are at risk with the dual threats of accelerated climate change, overuse of precious resources, especially fresh water, and plastic pollution which threatens our lands and seas. With my husband, David, I sit on the board of Oceana, because we both love our oceans and all the joy they bring to our lives from sailing, swimming to dining from its bounty and the need to protect them. Our oceans cover 70 percent of our planet, produce at least half of the earth’s oxygen, and are the main source of protein for more than a billion of us around the world.
Forty million people, including many of the poor and most vulnerable, depend on the seas for their livelihood. But the world’s oceans are steadily becoming more acidic and less hospitable to life. Rising ocean temperatures mean damaged marine ecosystems and threatened food security. Acidification — which is linked to carbon emissions — undermines coral reefs and disrupts the ability of plankton, pteropods, and crustaceans to make calcium-strong shells for protection and growth. These challenges are compounded by ocean plastic pollution — 15 million tons each year, the equivalent of about two garbage trucks’ worth of plastic — that enter our oceans every single minute. It is estimated that by 2040 we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish.
In honor of the upcoming World Ocean Day on June 8 let’s create a movement of resilience for our oceans. Join me in supporting local organizations such as the South Fork History Museum & Nature Center which trains next generation stewards to guard our oceans in keeping it clean and green. We on the East End need to bring awareness to water use, conservation and retooling septic tanks to prevent leakage that causes prolonged algae blooms, leaving vast “dead zones,” in which no fish or sea life can survive. We need to garden without chemical inputs which carry loads of pollutants. We can keep our East End vibrant, beautiful, and bountiful if we all take steps to care for it in our daily lives.
Innovation and technology will also be key. Companies like Biossance, use clean synthetics like “Squalane,” a plant-derived additive that increases the spreadability and absorption of cosmetics such as skin care, makeup, hair, body, and nail products, in place of Squalene, traditionally harvested from shark livers, at a terrible environmental cost. Oceana teamed up with Google and Sky truth to develop Global Fishing Watch which works in almost real time to track ocean vessel activity and help curb illegal fishing.
We need to save the oceans, feed the world and break free from our dependence on single use plastic consumer products which are both convenient and, quietly catastrophic, such as clam shell food service containers, coffee cups, lids, straws, and stirrers. We need to support Dock to Dish, which provides safe and certified wild seafood, and local fisherman and farmers. We all need to make waves by joining Oceana and becoming a wave maker, to uplift millions of voices who care about our oceans and want to protect them.
I live by the mantra to, “Protect what is precious.” We all need to ask ourselves, how can we be role models for generations to come? What is the legacy that we want to leave? We can start by protecting the places we love like the East End and doing our part to keep our oceans healthy, clean, and bountiful for now and for generations to come.