2008 International Year of the Reef

Hi all,

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! But now I'm back to remind y'all that 2008 was declared the International Year of the Reef (IYOR)by the International Coral Reef Initiative. It's been a decade since the last IYOR (1997), but the mission is still the same: raise awareness about threats to coral reefs and educate people on how to protect coral reefs. Remember, coral reefs are vital to the health of the ocean, and in turn the planet.

In the spirit of IYOR, the following are a bunch of great links:

To learn more about what you can do in your everyday life to help protect coral reefs, visit http://www.iyor.org/resources/tips.asp.
To view a calendar of events celebrating/promoting IYOR, visit http://www.iyor.org/Calendar/events_list.aspx.
To view videos (TV ads airing in the U.S.) on ways to help reefs containing some nice wildlife footage visit http://www.iyor.org/TV/.
To meet the adorable Japanese IYOR mascots, visit http://www.iyor.org/focalpoints/countries/japan/JP_mascots.asp.
To learn more about World Water Monitoring Day on September 18th, visit http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/.
And mark your calendars! September 20 is International Clean-up Day! Last year on International Clean-up day, over seven million pounds of trash and marine debris were cleaned up in over 100 different countries. This year, you can help! Visit http://www.projectaware.org/americas/english/icd.asp to find out about volunteer opportunities in your area, or to start your own event! Keep in mind they have volunteer events for both land-lubbers and SCUBA certified individuals or dive-clubs.