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About 71% of our planet is covered by saltwater oceans. An invaluable resource. Because it doesn’t provide us with a viable water resource, we too often dismiss oceans as inconsequential when we’re talking about conservation efforts. We talk about the trees. We talk about the air. We talk about the Amazon and the desert and the glaciers. But what’s going to happen if we manage to destroy our oceans?

“The rolling of the sea across the planet creates over half our oxygen, drives weather systems and natural flows of energy and nutrients around the world, transports water masses many times greater than all the rivers on land combined, and keeps the Earth habitable. Without the global ocean there would be no life on Earth.” ~Greenpeace

“Coral reefs are made predominately of stony corals and supported by the limestone skeleton they excrete. These rainforests of the sea are home to a quarter of all marine fish species. In addition to the variety of marine life they support, coral reefs are also immensely beneficial to humans, buffeting coastal regions from strong waves and storms, providing millions of people with food and jobs and promoting advances in modern medicine.” ~Jennifer Horton, HowStuffWorks.com

Oceans do impact on people – on our food, jobs and weather. People populate less than 30% of the Earth’s surface, but we affect the entire planet by leaching toxins into the soil and dumping our waste, oil and gasoline into the oceans.

Let’s think about that for a second. Men live on less than 30% of the Earth’s surface. We’re outnumbered by land animals, birds, fish, marine mammals, plants, both above and below the ocean’s surface. Insects. Reptiles. Yet we’re callously eating our way through their homes and their natural habitat through the belief of divine right. Simply because man has the greatest ability to spread himself across the Earth’s surface we’re somehow superior? Somehow we have the right to use these irreplaceable resources with no regard for the lives we’re going to be affecting?

“[It is] immoral to damage needlessly a remote and largely unknown assemblage of organisms-even if they are out-of-sight, out-of-mind, and apparently of little importance to the general ecological processes in the ocean-through negligent and ignorant abuse of the oceans.” ~Martin Angel, “Ocean Trench Conservation”, 1982

If We Destroy the Oceans We will Destroy Innocent Lives As Well As Our Own. So, What are We Going To Do?

Getting the word out about the need for ocean conservation is good. If talking about the challenges facing our environment would fix them, our politicians and lobbyists would have taken care of the problem years ago. Action, not words, is what’s going to make a difference in the future of our oceans. It’s up to us to make that difference into a reality.

Organizations such as Greenpeace are doing a lot of good things for ocean conservation, but they can’t solve the problems alone. People like you need to take accountability and make changes in your life to help preserve the oceans. Here are some things you can do:

1) The ocean ecosystem is self-managing, but the ocean’s ability to clean itself is badly affected by people dumping waste and rubbish into the water. So protest against the dumping of waste into ocean water. 2) Support areas that have been delegated for marine conservation. Make sure you keep away from protected nesting areas. 3) Household cleaning products leach into the soil and eventually end up in the water supply. So reduce the number of household pollutants that you use and use natural products as much as you can. 4) Air pollution also affects the marine environment. So ride a bike or car share as much as possible to get around. 5) Avoid plastic products and go for paper ones where possible. 6) Recycle as much as you possibly can.

It’s your responsibility as much as anyone’s to keep our oceans healthy for the next generation to enjoy.

If you found interest in the above piece, it is easy to go check out more comparable posts at Bruce Tulio or this Bruce Tulio Site.