. . . brief aside

I'm still working on the recap of the conferece, as much for my sake as anything . . . but before I continued I felt like posting a little interjection about Coastopolis. I've been communicating with various folks about the site and in one of the most recent correspondences a little description of the site turned out sounding quite nice. I'm posting what I wrote here, I hope Linwood Pendelton over at Ocean Values doesn't mind that I'm recycling things that I've sent him (a plug should be fair trade right? click on his picture for a good "interview" w/ him)

I think the main difference that I envision for Coastopolis is that, as opposed to some websites that I've seen out there, I hope the site becomes kind of an "enabling experience" as opposed to a simple blog, forum or bulletin board. I feel that with certain "web 2.0" features its easier and easier for people to access, relay and use information across a spectrum of fields and (hopefully) it can be done in an attractive manner. My goal is for the site to have a fairly broad audience, because that's the whole point - for coastal stakeholders of diverse backgrounds to see what the other is seeing, and maybe even see the way that the other is seeing certain coastal issues.

. . . the tag line for the Coastal Living magazine is "for people who love the coast", but just take a quick look at the headlines & articles on the website . . . I think we would all agree that there's a lot more to "loving the coast" than a Shrimp, Tomato & Watermelon Salad, not that it doesn't sound delicious . . . Loving the coast, for me, means trying to understand the coast, and living on it, or visiting it responsibly. Loving the coast means engaging with that environment in a way that makes your presence a sustainable one. It's high time that we really start loving the coast, and not just the idea of it.


. . . so there's my little aside. Thanks LP.