With care and protection, with safe havens in the ocean, there is still a good chance that we can turn things around.

There's something missing about how we're informing the youngsters coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them the numbers and the letters, but we fail to communicate the importance of our connection to the living world.

This much is certain: We have the power to damage the sea, but no sure way to heal the harm.

Just as we have the power to harm the ocean, we have the power to put in place policies and modify our own behavior in ways that would be an insurance policy for the future of the sea, for the creatures there, and for us, protecting special critical areas in the ocean.

Forty percent of the United States drains into the Mississippi. It's agriculture. It's golf courses. It's domestic runoff from our lawns and roads. Ultimately, where does it go? Downstream into the gulf.

We are taking way more out of the ocean than the ocean can replenish.

We've got to alter our fossil fuel dependence and go to other energy sources.