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

No water, no life. No blue, no green.

Great attention gets paid to rainforests because of the diversity of life there. Diversity in the oceans is even greater.

The most important thing for people to know about the governance of the Arctic is that we have a chance now to act to maintain the integrity of the system or to lose it. To lose it means that we will dismember the vital systems that make the Arctic work. It's not just a cost to the people who live there. It's a cost to all people everywhere.

We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.

My first encounter with the ocean was on the Jersey Shore when I was three years old and I got knocked over by a wave. The ocean certainly got my attention! It wasn't frightening, it was more exhilarating.