Triton's Ray

According to Greek mythology (well, Wikipedia), Triton is the messenger of the sea, a herald to Poseidon, god of the sea.

I couldn't imagine a more appropriate mascot for UC San Diego, the university where I'm getting my Ph.D. in oceanography, and the university co-founded by Roger Revelle, a famous director (not to mention scientist & explorer) of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

And I couldn't think of a more appropriate week to celebrate our mascot than this one, a week sandwiched in between Earth Day (April 22) and World Oceans Day (June 8), a week when arguably the most important ocean health message of our time was delivered to our nation (as part of the National Climate Assessment). Check out all the ocean, coastline, water, hurricane, glacier, ecosystem (the list goes on) shout-outs just in the White House's abbreviated fact sheet! If this isn't a message from Triton, I don't know what is!

But Triton's message isn't just a story of doom and gloom; it is a ray of hope, a story that says we have at our fingertips an opportunity to shift the momentum of planetary change in a positive direction. We now have the unique ability to say, "Hey, I'm not going to leave behind oceans that are worse off than they were when I was born. No way! I hear your message, Triton [it's good to be on good terms with the guy; he has a trident!], and I'm gonna do something about it. I'm going to be a force for change."

This is my attempt. What's yours?