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Oceana – Inventive Fun(d)Raising Event

Oceana [www.oceana.org] is a notable organization devoted to saving the worldwide marine habitat from the dangerous levels of pollution and over-fishing that threaten ocean habitats. Because
global warming [www.sundancechannel.com] poses real threats to marine habitats, Oceana [www.oceana.org] also acts to mitigate that greater cause. They are also an advisory board member of THE GREEN weekly programming here on Sundance Channel.

At the Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica on September 22nd and 23rd, the “Make A Wave Project” held the “2007 Surf-a-thon” event in order to raise money for Oceana and their ambitious plans to protect and clean the ocean ecosystem [www.sundancechannel.com]. The event was 24 hours long and consisted of four white tents setup near the beach. The event was a new kind of fund raising event where people had a lot of fun and came from all around just to surf and meet other people who were interested in supporting a healthy marine ecosystem [www.sundancechannel.com].

Here is some background information on why Oceana’s non-profit work is so important.

Most people do not realize that marine life in the ocean acts to remove carbon [www.sundancechannel.com] from the environment. The phytoplankton that is the basis for the food chain in the ocean is very sensitive to temperature, and
global warming [www.sundancechannel.com] will destroy the phytoplankton production capabilities of the ocean. The loss of ocean plants will mean that 20% (an optimistically low number) less carbon [www.sundancechannel.com] will be removed from the atmosphere each year. There will also be that much less oxygen produced but the effect of that is uncertain. The secondary effect of ocean plant depletion would be a complete disruption of the marine food chain, resulting in a massive extinction of most marine creatures. This is simply what could happen if more people do not follow the lead of noble organizations like Oceana.

For some cool photo galleries and anecdotes from the event, check out the Make a Wave Project Website [makeawaveproject.org]. Consider making a donation to Oceana. After all, humanity and the ocean seem to share an interdependent destiny.

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