The Blue Economy has long history, dating back to at least 6000 BC when humans are believed to have begun whaling in Korea so we're talking 8000+ years.  For most of us though, we equate the Blue Economy with the Viking Age from 800 to 1050 AD when Vikings roamed the seas.  Suffice it to say, we have been busy the last ~1200 years generating economic value from the ocean, and I include lakes, rivers and streams as all are blue, rivers and streams typically exit into the ocean and we generate economic value from all.  So what's up with the New Blue Economy? "At the core of the ne ..read more

Busy week this week with World Environment Day on Monday, 6/5, and World Ocean Day on Thursday, 6/8.  While World Ocean Day we are well familiar with as we are a supporter, World Environment Day is new for us even though it has been taking place since 1973.  This year though the link between the two is strong as the theme of this year's World Environment Day is beating plastic pollution and our ocean, along with lakes, rivers and streams, is / are feeling the brunt of too much plastic pollution / waste in them so highly relevant for World Ocean Day as well. While it's positive news t ..read more

As we round the corner into Memorial Day weekend, for many of us it's time to head to the beach, whether the ocean, lake, river or stream.  It also means it's time for Dr. Beach's annual ranking of the top 10 best beaches in the US.  While the list has suspects from the usual states (e.g. California, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York & North / South Carolina), overlooking Maine and Oregon AGAIN, this year's winner, St. George Island State Park, is a newcomer on the barrier island, St. George Island.  Looks like a great place and another one to add to my list of beache ..read more

WooHoo, time for Spring Break 2023!  After the last 3 years, I would expect people are looking forward to a relaxing week somewhere, but here we're going to focus solely on beaches here in the US, for obvious reasons.  For many folks, a trek to warmer weather and the beach is a must as winter has been rolling along for 3 or more months now so a break is welcome.  This is a merely a quick drive by as don't have the time or space to get into great detail. Having grown up in the northeast, our go to was always Florida in college.  Back in the 80s we went to Fort Lauderdale (ak ..read more

This week, Wednesday, 11/30,  is the official end of hurricane season here in the US (hooray)!  Though off-season hurricanes do happen, it’s rare for them to strike the U.S. mainland.  That makes now as good a time as any to reflect on this year’s hurricane season and our coastal communities. Earlier this month Hurricane Nicole lashed Florida bringing power outages, flooding and loss of life.  As storms often do, Nicole also caused widespread coastal erosion in Volusia County which includes Daytona Beach Shores, New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach. The giant waves that hurri ..read more

Lots of news landing in my inbox today so with COP 27 starting on Sunday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, thought this would be a good time for a blog post. The first bit of news came from The Economist and addressed how keeping temperature increases to <= 1.5 degrees Celsius is just not going to happen so time for us to face that reality.  Not really a great way to start the day, but am certain the timing of this was intentional with COP 27 starting in a few days.   Then came Surfrider Foundation's 2022 State of the Beach Report which in the introduction raised the challenges ..read more

Tomorrow, Sun, 9/25, is World Rivers Day which is a day of celebration and recognition for the world's rivers (the image used is my fav swimming hole on a river here in Oregon).  Water is 70%+ of the earth's surface and of that, ~96.5% is the ocean and 2.5% is freshwater of which 98.5%+ is glaciers, groundwater and ice caps which leaves < 1.5% as surface water such as lakes, rivers and streams of which ~.5%, one half (1/2) of one (1) percent, of that is rivers.  That being said, for their small mass / size, rivers are absolutely critical for human survival: "Rivers are important f ..read more

Over the last few years, we keep hearing about the Blue Economy so thought it made sense to unpack this a bit to bring more clarity to the concept.  The Blue Economy is not new as humans have been profiting from the ocean, lakes, rivers and streams for millennia.  That being said, what is changing is the need to manage the ocean resource more sustainably due to the impacts from: Climate change Overfishing Plastic pollution Each of these problems is caused by the human race, primarily the private sector in pursuit of profits (and if anyone disagrees with this perspective feel free t ..read more

Welcome to Memorial Day 2022 and the unofficial start of summer. Hope folks are planning on a beach weekend, whether the ocean, lake, pond, river or stream, but if not that doesn't mean you can't take a day trip to the beach sometime this weekend.  As a kid growing up, we used to head to Cape Cod, but tomorrow heading to Astoria, OR and then will swing by Fort Stevens State Park, Sunset Beach and Seaside on Sunday.  And as it's Memorial Day weekend, that means Dr. Beach has released his list of the top 10 beaches in the US and his top beach for 2022 is Ocracoke Lifeguard(ed) Beach in ..read more

Welcome to Memorial Day 2022 and the unofficial start of summer. Hope folks are planning on a beach weekend, whether the ocean, lake, pond, river or stream, but if not that doesn't mean you can't take a day trip to the beach sometime this weekend.  As a kid growing up, we used to head to Cape Cod, but tomorrow heading to Astoria, OR and then will swing by Fort Stevens State Park, Sunset Beach and Seaside on Sunday.  And as it's Memorial Day weekend, that means Dr. Beach has released his list of the top 10 beaches in the US and his top beach for 2022 is Ocracoke Lifeguard(ed) Beach in ..read more