This May I’m headed to DC once again, for the third year in a row. Arranging meetings with Senators and Representatives, pleading the case for cleaner oceans and more foresight in how we interact with the watery parts of the planet could easily be a full-time job, but I try to pack as much in to the allotted time as I can.

This year, the day-on-the-hill coincides with the 2017 Blue Vision Summit, a conference that brings together some of the ocean’s biggest advocates for teaching sessions and presentations about the state of the ocean and where our efforts need to be focused. Sylvia Earle was there at the last one in 2015, and she’s expected to return this year as well. (That right there is reason enough to go, if you ask me.) It’s a good opportunity to reset, to see how far we have come and what still needs to be accomplished.

It goes without saying that the environment in general is not much of a priority in DC these days. The tide of environmental awareness and commitment ebbs and flows in our nation’s capital and with the recent election, it would seem that environmental priorities are almost nonexistent. But it is when things are at their darkest that keeping the lights on can have the most impact…