Give the ocean a break. Give yourself a break.

Evolution is not something to be feared. It's to be celebrated, embraced, and understood.

Humans have always wondered the big questions, "Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going?" It's part of human nature. It's perhaps the underpinnings of religion.

As a child, I was aware of the widely-held attitude that the ocean is so big, so resilient that we could use the sea as the ultimate place to dispose of anything we did not want, from garbage and nuclear wastes to sludge from sewage to entire ships that had reached the end of their useful life.

If you think the ocean isn't important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.

'Green' issues at last are attracting serious attention, owing to critically important links between the environment and the economy, health, and our security.

The observations that have developed over the years have given us perspective about where we fit in. We are newcomers, really recent arrivals on a planet that is four and a half billion years old.