Riley Elliott Instagram – Happy World Ocean Day!!! Although, as I read many ‘I love the ocean’ posts today, it makes me wonder if people/society are really, actually, emotionally connected to the ocean and the struggles it is facing. I know much of society doesn’t work or get to play in the ocean and therefore may not have a direct connection to it. But we can still be educated about its struggles and push for change. I know millions of people do their part every day all around the world. But we need more of us to push for the ocean. The writing has been on the wall for decades. Yet decision makers, who should represent ‘our interest’ continue to be led astray. Lobbyists seem to push productivity in the wrong direction – just look at the fact the Greenland Ice Cap has now gone beyond its melting point where it WILL melt and cannot be saved. The impact of that is global. I look locally at the Hauraki Marine ‘Park’ which is a dumping zone for sediment, farm fertiliser run off, and pollution. The ocean floor is scraped to death with dinosaur fishing technology. A once thriving marine food chain has now broken, with only tiny bait ball work ups existing these days as an indicator of that. I don’t post these depressing things to kill your Ocean Day buzz but rather to set some perspective on what matters as far as action. Governments need to make the hard changes. Ones that will temporarily cause some jobs losses, financial upset, in order to shift industry. But this will create jobs, ones with long term gains that are sustainable & ultimately more profitable. Yet society makes decisions based on three or four year election cycles of popularity. So please, post your pictures like I have, which represent special moments where the Ocean and yourself connected. It may be a stunning interaction with fish. It may be an explanation of how you harvest your food, or it may be the work you do to conserve a species or invent a technology to improve our ocean. But then please push further with your messaging, inspire others. Educate others. Ensure that others are empowered. And if we all can step up that little bit more, we may overcome the big bully called the lobbyist