Fourteen years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the wildlife and ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico have still not recovered. As scientists continue to uncover new and disturbing things about the long-term impacts of the spill, proposals currently on the table to increase offshore drilling show that the lessons of Deepwater Horizon have not been learned.
With the future of the ocean increasingly uncertain, a growing body of research shows that marine protected areas (MPAs) can conserve and revive marine ecosystems and help reverse the damage inflicted on the ocean by human activity.
In today’s deeply polarized political landscape it’s hard to find issues that Americans agree on. But a bipartisan recognition of the importance of protecting our open spaces provides reason for optimism.
From sports fields and playgrounds to the great unspoiled wildernesses of our national parks, many of the natural lands that have escaped development have only been able to do so thanks to a federal program working in the background to support land conservation across the United States.
