Word: monumental
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...added that Harvard’s 2007 purchase of the Citgo station in Barry’s Corner, which is now an “empty, abandoned gas station,” was a “monument to Harvard’s damaging real estate practices...
...this is literally just what Bush has done. Last Tuesday, the President designated three new stretches of the Pacific as Marine National Monuments, which effectively bans commercial fishing, seafloor mining, oil exploration, and other commercial exploitation. The act builds upon Bush’s 2006 decree that created a similar monument near the Northern Hawaiian islands, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (which seems to have a syllable for each of its 139,800 square miles). At the time, Papahanaumokuakea was the largest patch of ocean ever preserved, a record broken only by Tuesday’s act, which encompasses...
...harm the trees within Yellowstone. The oceans, however, are different because water and life move freely without the same geographic restraints as on land—illustrated by the fact that ocean currents bring in thousands of pounds of garbage from nearby islands into the protected Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Regardless of well-intentioned efforts like creating marine sanctuaries, oceanic environments will never be protected until we tackle the larger issues facing oceans as a whole, such as pollution, overfishing, and atmospheric carbon...
...marine monuments will comprise the ocean waters within a 50-nautical-mile radius of the protected islands and will safeguard virtually the whole of the Mariana Trench. Commercial fishing will be banned within the monuments, and mining, oil exploration and other commercial activity will be limited. (Sportfishing and other boating may be allowed within the region, but only on a permitted basis.) Those protections will shield the rich, pristine marine life found among the coral reefs of the central Pacific, which includes hundreds of species of rare birds and fish. Though most of the monument areas are so remote that...
...Bush's monuments will go a long way toward closing that gap, though their success will depend on how well the protections work. The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument officially bans any material that might damage corals or sea life, but ocean currents still sweep 57 tons of garbage a year into the protected area - and cleanup efforts, hampered by budget reductions, can't keep pace. And the sheer isolation of the central Pacific monuments, which helps shield them from pollution, makes policing the waters even more difficult and costly. "Actually following through on this will be a real issue," says...