We don't have to be that greedy generation that just continued to take down the underpinnings of what makes the planet work in our favor.

Ocean acidification - the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is turning the oceans increasingly acid - is a slow but accelerating impact with consequences that will greatly overshadow all the oil spills put together. The warming trend that is CO2-related will overshadow all the oil spills that have ever occurred put together.

Places change over time with or without oil spills, but humans are responsible for the Deepwater Horizon gusher - and humans, as well as the corals, fish and other creatures, are suffering the consequences.

Scientists never stop asking. They're little kids who never grew up.

Photosynthetic organisms in the sea yield most of the oxygen in the atmosphere, take up and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide, shape planetary chemistry, and hold the planet steady.

We are depleting this immense diversity and abundance of life, and it matters tremendously for the future of the planet.

The most important part is to take on the challenge of protecting the ocean as if your life depends on it - because it does.