Yet, while our livelihoods are inseparable from the health of these natural systems, our oceans are under threat from pollution, coastal development, overfishing, and climate change.

WHITEHOUSE: Presidential Proclamation -- National Oceans Month, 2012

Pollution also poses a threat: floating plastic bags look a lot like the jellyfish they rely on as their main food source, and have been found in the digestive systems of about half of the leatherbacks studied in recent times.

CNN: Race to save the leatherback turtle

This does not surprise environmentalists, who have long argued that any policy of pollution-reduction that does not include a threat of punishment for non-compliance is useless.

ECONOMIST: The Lone Smog State

The finding adds to growing concerns that the threat to public health posed by air pollution may have been overlooked as many scientists chose to focus on smoking instead.

BBC: Traffic

The European Commission is to try to reduce the threat to health by adopting a new strategy on air pollution from May.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Air pollution causes early deaths

How can we reduce the real threat to our health and ecosystems caused by ever-increasing water pollution?

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

The film highlights key water quality problems such as lack of access to safe water and sanitation, inefficient wastewater management in urban areas, water pollution caused by intensive use of nutrients and chemicals in agriculture, the invisible threat of new and emerging pollutants in water and the economic costs of water quality degradation.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

As if to underscore his threat, Obama replaced the retiring Jackson with the head of the EPA office that regulates air pollution, Gina McCarthy.

FORBES: Bill Gates Still Believes In A Carbon Tax