http://www.bluefront.org/wordpress/?p=4620
Recent gatherings themed around ocean conservation included among their sponsors the American Petroleum Institute, BP, Shell, the French oil giant Total and ExxonMobil. It’s as if a medical convention on how to reduce heart and lung disease were sponsored by coal and tobacco companies.
As leaders of groups dedicated to protecting our public seas and ocean planet we will not accept financial sponsorships from the fossil fuel industry. In addressing the critical challenges our blue planet faces from overfishing, pollution, loss of habitat and climate change we recognize the need to engage with all sectors of the marine community.
However we also understand that almost all ocean users including fishing, shipping, ports, recreation and tourism, science, national defense and clean energy have the potential to be part of a unified effort to sustain our coasts and ocean for future generations.
Forty or fifty years ago the same might have been thought of the fossil fuel industry when oil spills from drilling and shipping were seen as the main challenge for marine conservation and common efforts could be sought to balance the risk of pollution against the need for energy.
Today science and observation informs us that the burning of fossil fuels contributes to climate disruption including increased coastal storminess, sea level rise, warming seas, loss of arctic sea ice, coral bleaching and ocean acidification among other dangerous impacts. These changes are already putting millions of people and billions in property at risk along with the marine ecosystems we all depend on.
This is why we will not take any contributions from fossil fuel corporations that will allow them to greenwash (or bluewash) their role in climate change and undermine the marine conservation community’s credibility.
We need to make climate a blue issue by educating the public on why we have to make a rapid transition from fossil fuels to clean non-carbon renewable energy on and offshore as part of our greater effort to protect and restore the wonders and promise of our blue marble planet. Not taking money from big oil is a minimal step we all can commit to.
James N. Barnes
Executive Director
Antarctic & Southern Ocean Coalition
Anna Cummins
Executive Director
5 Gyres Institute
Jim Curland
Advocacy Program Director
Friends of the Sea Otter
Tim Dillingham
Executive Director
American Littoral Society
Vicki Nichols Goldstein
Founder
Colorado Ocean Coalition
Randy Hayes
Executive Director
Foundation Earth
David Helvarg
Executive Director
Blue Frontier
Alex Hobbs
Acting Executive Director
Heal the Bay
Linda Hunter
Executive Director
The Watershed Project
Phillip Johnson
Executive Director
Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition
Laura Kasa
Executive Director
Save Our Shores
Kurt Lieber
Executive Director
Ocean Defenders Alliance
Millard McCleary
Executive Program Director
Reef Relief
David McGuire
Director
Shark Stewards
Bill McKibben
Founder
350.Org
Wallace j. Nichols, PhD
Founder
Blue Mind
Jeff Pantukhoff
President & Founder
The Whaleman Foundation
Louis Psihoyos
Executive Director
Oceanic Preservation Society
Phil Radford
Executive Director
Greenpeace USA
Daniella Dimitrova Russo
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Plastic Pollution Coalition
Carl Safina, PhD
President
Blue Ocean Institute
Cynthia Sarthou
Executive Director
Gulf Restoration Network
Todd Steiner
Executive Director
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Mike Tidwell
Executive Director
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Marc A. Yaggi
Executive Director
Waterkeeper Alliance
Cindy Zipf
Executive Director
Clean Ocean Action
Special thanks to Blue Frontier as it appeared in Blue Notes