Most of the damage suffered by the ocean up until now has been caused by local insults - overfishing, pollution, and destruction of habitats. If we tackle these problems now, we buy ourselves time to work on climate change.

I watched the coral reefs that I studied as a student vanish in the blink of an eye, and for decades I wrote and spoke of ocean obituaries. But big scary problems without solutions lead to apathy, not action.

Most of the damage suffered by the ocean up until now has been caused by local insults - overfishing, pollution, and destruction of habitats. If we tackle these problems now, we buy ourselves time to work on climate change.

Small steps taken by many people in their backyards add up.