Last week I had the opportunity to see a lecture by Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques). Like his father, Cousteau has spent a lifetime exploring the oceans and communicating his discoveries to the public. On recent expeditions, his team traveled to all of the marine sanctuaries in the US. Last week there were 13. This week, thanks to Cousteau and the Bush administration, there are 14. Cousteau made a documentary called Voyage to Kure, which documents his voyage to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. These uninhabited islands are so remote that most visitors don’t even know that they’re there. What they found on this island was absolutely shocking. There were heaps of trash covering the beach. This trash has floated in from all over the world: toys from the US, fishing equipment from Asia, trash from Europe. It was so pervasive that the seabirds were choking on it.

You see, most beaches are cleaned when trash starts accumulating so that we never have to think about all of the trash that is floating around in the oceans. But this untouched beach contained mountains of refuse that had accumulated over the years.

They also found a beautiful wild ocean ecosystem that needed protection.

Fortunately, the Couseau's have influential friends, and the film caught the attention of President and First Lady Bush. The Bush’s were so touched that they even held a private screening of the film for their friends. The result was that President Bush established the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as a National Monument yesterday.

With so much crap going on in our nation, it’s nice to hear a success story like this. Let’s hope that this administration and future administrations maintain a legacy of stewardship in our national sanctuaries, parks and monuments.