While many environmentalists are eagerly counting down the days until George W. Bush exits office and a new, potentially more eco-aware president is ushered in, Bush has announced one plan that won’t be met with such cries of disdain (unlike the vast majority of his last minute regulations and notices). For this step, however, Bush has gone straight to the sea, where he’s set three new marine monuments into action and created what will be the largest conservation area in the world (the previous largest conservation area, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, was also an act of Bush).

The area will include the Mariana Trench, a section of American Samoa and several islands and is the home of a range of sea creatures including stunning pink coral, the giant land crab and many sharks. The move will allow the government to end commercial fishing and other extractive uses in those spaces and allow sea life to thrive and be studied.

Of course, as is often the case in politics, this cloud has its gloomy gray lining. For one thing, the monuments are suspected to be an attempt to divert attention from numerous environment-damaging endeavors undertaken in the final months of the Bush administration. The human inhabitants of the conservation areas also have concerns over fishing and sovereignty. And, perhaps most disappointingly, the conservation area, although it will be the world’s largest, falls short of the size–and scope–environmentalists were hoping for.

As the final days slip by, this news of Bush’s marine move is overshadowed by excitement and concern from environmentalists and everyday go-greeners who are anxiously waiting to see what steps Obama will take to ensure the health of the earth for years to come (and whether he’ll be able to counter some of the negative effects of the last administration on ecological issues).

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