Ocean Friendly = Investment, not Sacrifice

One of the most important messages I took away from the book and film, The End of the Line is that saving the oceans (and, by definition, the planet) is not rocket science. At the most simplistic level, it is about what we put into the oceans and what we take out of it.

Overfishing depletes a finite resource (easy enough to understand when we talk about fossil fuels - why not when we talk about fish stocks?) and disrupts the ecological balance by removing the predators that keep populations in check at all levels. By depleting fish stocks, we also eliminate the fish waste that is essential to the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In other words, there is a direct connection between overfishing and the threat of global warming. If you care about climate change, you have to care about the health of our oceans.

On the inputs side: You don't need to visualize large-diameter pipes pouring sewage into the oceans. Think chemical fertilizer and livestock waste from factory farms running off into the streams and rivers and ultimately into the oceans. Think plastics, endlessly swirling in the North Pacific Garbage Patch, breaking down to plankton-size tidbits and becoming a permanent feature of the food chain. Think of all those Styrofoam peanuts that are such a pain in the ass to get off your living room carpet and multiply them a trillion-fold. Think of ghost nets clinging to rocks and reefs on the bottom of the sea, pointlessly and indiscriminately strangling all kinds of marine animals.

Ocean-friendly business is not some nice-to-do, warm-and-fuzzy fish-hugging thing. It is responsible stewardship of our planet. Pursuing ocean-friendly business practices is not a sacrifice - it is an investment in a niche market that will become mainstream as the planet's people become better educated. Do you want to be a leader and establish a sustainable advantage, or are you going to wait around and play catch-up?