Bush: going green in the deep blue yonder? - August 25, 2008
President George W. Bush on Monday announced plans to create two new offshore sanctuaries in the central and western Pacific Ocean (The Associated Press). The move has already earned the praise of environmentalists who, though they might deny him a green legacy, are perfectly willing to support the president's efforts to achieve a "blue legacy."
The proposal, detailed in a memo here, would represent an impressive follow-up to his 2006 announcement creating the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. Papahānaumokuākea covers more than 139,797 square miles, an area larger than all of the United States' national parks combined.
But that monument would be dwarfed by the latest proposal. The central-Pacific designation could be nearly as large as Alaska, making it the largest protected area in the world, according to the US-based Environmental Defense Fund. Meanwhile, the proposed designation around the Northern Mariana Islands would include the deepest part of the ocean at the Marianas Trench.
It's not yet clear how the designations might play out. The president has asked various federal agencies for input on the idea (including its impact on military activities), and he has various legal options as far as implementation goes. The simplest, and therefore the most likely, is to declare a pair of national monuments, which any president can do almost anywhere at the proverbial stroke of the pen.
The president's memo raises the possibility of prohibiting fishing, mining and energy development, all of which were banned at Papahānaumokuākea. But threats can come from afar, too, as trash floats in from the around the globe. And on this point, apparently things have gotten worse at Papahānaumokuākea.
Comments
"prohibiting fishing, mining and energy development" Bush the Lesser is making money for his friends by imposing artificial scarcity. Conservation: somebody else in the tenebrous future deserves to consume it; and not them, either.
Posted by: Uncle Al | August 26, 2008 12:52 AM
In my opinion, President George W. Bush could realize, spending less money, a greater enterprise in the interest not only of central and western Pacific Ocean, in particular Papahānaumokuākea region, but of entire world. In the above-mentioned area, the President of USA could initiate a campaign on very large scale against cancer and diabetes with clinical tool, suggested also in this website (See www.nature.com, for instance: http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/03/this_is_your_brain_on_diesel.html#c92279; http://network.nature.com/forums/italy/1196?page=1#reply-3344; http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/02/confusion_after_diabetes_study.html#comments). In case of success, such as primary prevention against the most dangerous, severe, today's epidaemics (i.e., diabetes and cancer, both solid and liquid)will immediately applied in all countries of the world. I am sure that, doing so, the world will remember for ever the President George W. Bush as the best president among all others of USA, considering him the first individual who have success in demonstrating that disorders primary prevention is far better than their treatment, in spite of the opinion of pharmaceutical industries.
Posted by: Sergio Stagnaro | August 26, 2008 07:59 AM