A chance to be a steward of the ocean

I was disappointed by the headlines last week announcing the decision that the CNMI government would not endorse the proposed Marine National Monument at this time. There has been much excitement and debate over the last few weeks regarding the possibility that three northern islands could be candidate for a new Marine National Monument, similar to the recently created Papahanaumokuakea near Hawaii. Of course this is a complex issue, and there are many arguments about the “worth” or “need” or “benefit” or “cost” of these kind of protected monuments. Projects of this nature are never clear-cut because they involve so many issues; fishing rights, indigenous rights, government control, wilderness designation, stewardship, environmentalism, economies, and politics. The “good” or “bad” of such a vast project can be spun from any side with the right set of data and eloquence. I leave that to the experts. I only wish to express that this is a wonderful opportunity, and to urge the government and the people to seriously consider the issue. Set a timeline, review the facts, survey the people, and then make the choice.

The ocean is our final frontier on Earth. It holds many secrets, new discoveries, and indeed, tremendous beauty. The proposed monument would be a legacy to our and future generations. Through the creation of a Marine National Monument, the CNMI has the opportunity to help protect and manage a vanishing resource—a beautiful, relatively “virgin” area of the world that has not been influenced heavily by human activity. We do not realize how rare that is!! Projects such as these are not about economic benefits or rules and regulations—they transcend both capitalism and government. Behind the numbers and graphs lie the intangibles, the ideas, and the dreams of making the world a better place to live. There is no way to put value on protecting part of the Earth. Read the headlines—the environment is being polluted and used up—the time to act is now. A National Marine Monument provides a sanctuary for replenishment and renewal. It would benefit and heal the local oceans of the CNMI as well as the world’s, and that sounds like a very worthy cause. With some cooperation, sacrifice, foresight, and understanding, the CNMI has the opportunity to be a leading steward of the ocean, a seemingly rightful role for these islands tenuously anchored in 30,000 feet of blue water.

The following quote from, The Roots of Heaven, presented itself while I was writing. I have not read this book.

“…how can we talk of progress when we’re destroying, all around us, life’s most beautiful and noble manifestations? Our artists, architects, our scientists, our poets, sweat blood to make our life more beautiful, and at the same time we force our way into the last forests left to us, with our finger on the trigger of an automatic weapon, and we poison the oceans and the very air we breathe with our devices…We’ve got to resist this degradation. Are we no longer capable of respecting nature, or defending a living beauty that has no earning power, no utility, no object except to let itself be seen from time to time?…It’s absolutely essential that man should manage to preserve something other than what helps to make soles for shoes or machines, that he should leave a margin, a sanctuary, where some of life’s beauty can take refuge and where he himself can feel safe from his own cleverness and folly. Only then will it be possible to begin talking of civilization.”