Living in the 21st Century, we find ourselves facing major challenges as a global community. One of the most serious of these is the pollution of our oceans. We must stop the madness now! We have to find workable solutions immediately, stop being apathetic and blind to our blatant disregard for our beautiful life giving oceans. As individuals, we must take responsibility by taking action. Education is the first step to change. Our oceans are the lungs of the planet. If we do not act now, WE will not survive.
One of the main problems humans are causing to destroy our oceans is chemical contamination. PCB is one of the major contaminants to our seas, and more is waiting to escape from transformers and capacitors across the world. PCB is a general term when referring to oil, gas, or other pollutants. PCB's are not water-soluble and when released into the atmosphere they accumulate into the fat cells of living organisms. Marine mammals are said to have 10 million times more PCB's in their fat than in the water they exist in. That's a shocking number to compete with if you ask the average person. Does that make you wonder how much PCB's are in your fat cells? How much oil do you swallow when you take a sip of water? This is the kind of water our oceanic wonders are forced to live in. As a result many of them are dieing, becoming extinct, or getting very ill. If human kind is going to survive we have to make relative changes in our production technologies. So, in other words the best way to eliminate pollution is to change the way we live, Produce, and exist on planet earth.
Does this mean that we now need to outlaw oil and gasoline to end oils spill destruction? That might be the only answer. Once oil is spilled into the ocean the damage that is caused is irreversible. The oil rig companies use one layered tanks that are unsafe for transporting liquid murder through our exhaustible oceanic environment. Tankers "accidentally" dump oil into the ocean and a countless number of ships going to and from Central and South America dump trash as soon as they get far enough away from port that no one notices. You know the saying "What happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans" well at sea no one notices the infractions, no one is there to ticket, fine or revoke these blatant criminals. The public does not see the damage till dead, oil-suffocated carcasses wash ashore. The attitude of oil tankers is similar to that of the entire political world, brushing "accidents" under the rug and hiding evidence, although the evidence in this case is hard to hide.
An estimated 8.8 million tons of oil enter the ocean each year as a result of human activity. The ocean contains 280,000 tons of tar balls. Our oceans that seem an unlimited resource for us to take advantage of, are now showing their limits. These chemicals cannot be filtered out or washed clean from our most valuable natural resource. Ultimately we will destroy our ocean, and without the oxygen created by the ocean, the human race will cease to exist.
Small changes can be made in our habits as individuals and also as a Global Community. Such as: recycling or reusing plastic, paper, glass, and aluminum, proper disposal of engine oils and toxic chemicals, limiting water usage, and reduction of the use of plastic. It is non bio-degradable. Plastic does not break down, it photo-degrades, which means it breaks into millions of tiny pieces over several years, these bits are called plastic polymers. This plastic, in large pieces like bottles, or in microscopic bits like Styrofoam, will kill oceanic prosperity as we know it.
Through utter disregard for our environment all of these materials are ending up in our oceans, which have become a personal liquid grave for anything unwanted. Plastic not only kills our marine animals it also acts as a sponge for DDT's, PCB's, and other oily pollutants. Discarding our lives into the ocean will only kill off our species (and many others) even more quickly. Things like plastic should be used wisely and disposed of properly. There are advantages to it but plastic can become a disadvantage when not used properly. Obviously keeping plastic out of the ocean is extremely important. At the rate of its growth in our oceans it may have already created an island of plastic. Not exactly the vacation retreat you had planned for right? Well the change needed to save our ocean, starts at home.
The problem is that these days we humans do not use anything properly, (excluding the Laptop, and cellular phone.) Humans are making up the rules as we go and ignoring the examples set by pollution damage thus far, for instance, the hole in the ozone layer, which only grows more and more each day. Fisheries send divers out to poison or seas with cyanide and bomb our coral reefs, to provide fish for our fish tanks. Unable to catch life on the rebound, our marine ecosystem could be depleted. To prevent this loss of biodiversity in our oceans we must vote to implement no-catch zones and Marine reserves. Our ocean is a massive, almost unending, body of life. Our beautiful earth is just crumbling before our eyes, while we blatantly ignore the consequences. With such a big prize at stake, isn't it time to take the initiative?
World Ocean Day is coming up on June 8th and what better way to celebrate than by helping to protect the ocean and the creatures that call it home? Most of the news we hear these days about the ocean is bad; giant islands of trash, sharks being killed for their fins, and more. But there is still hope to save the oceans and everyone can help no matter how far you live from a coast.
1. Use Less Plastic
Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch out north of Hawaii; not many people know that all five of the world's oceans have currents (called "gyres") that collect plastic waste. This waste endangers sea turtles, birds, seals, and other wildlife.
How to help: First, avoid plastic wherever possible. You can support local bans on plastic bags and take the Plastic Pollution Coalition's Pledge to refuse disposable plastic. You can also volunteer in the International Coastal Cleanup and help keep trash out of the oceans.
2. Eat Less Fish or More Sustainable Fish
Many of the world's major fish stocks are overfished and collapsing. This is more than a food issue; these fish make the marine food web survive and many coastal communities depend on the industry. The good news is that there are alternatives for those who don't want to completely give up seafood.
How to help: First, avoid the most damaging seafood such as shrimp. In some places, fishermen catch up to 10 lbs. of other fish and animals for every pound of shrimp. Also, print out a Seafood Watch Guide or download their smart phone app that tells you which fish are being caught sustainably and which ones can have high levels of toxins.
3. Use Your Voice (or Your Email)
There are many opportunities to speak up for ocean conservation. For example, you can participate in the Sea Turtle Restoration Project's advocacy campaigns or you can follow SEE Turtles on Facebook to learn about other advocacy campaigns.
4. Volunteer With A Sea Turtle Conservation Project
Ever wanted to see what the life of a marine biologist is like? Our SEE Turtles project helps connect volunteers with sea turtle conservation programs in Latin America at no charge. Patrol a turtle nesting beach, helping to measure and tag sea turtles and move their eggs to a protected hatchery. Volunteers pay from $15-50/day for food and lodging, which is a critical source of income for many small projects.
5. Take An Ocean Wildlife Conservation Tour
SEEtheWILD is the world's first non-profit wildlife conservation travel project and our website promotes tours where you can get up close to ocean wildlife including sea turtles, sharks, and whales. Every trip benefits conservation programs through donations, education, and volunteer opportunities. Bonus Action: Share A Blue Marble
The Blue Marbles Project is a simple experiment in showing gratitude for the ocean. Millions of these marbles are passing around the planet, from hand to hand. The premise is simple, give a marble to someone doing good things for the ocean. Pick up some marbles here and share the stories of the people you give them to on Facebook
Unless you are a fisherman, you probably end up buying most of your fish at the supermarket. This is a fairly common thing these days, especially because the logistics behind actually catching your own fish are quite complicated. What you may not know, however, is that the actual process of catching fish is important. There is a very real danger that a number of common fish may no longer exist in a few generations because of overfishing. Poor fishing will destroy a benthic habitat, something that is very important to fish everywhere. Fish can either be sustainably farmed or not sustainably farmed, and it is important to be able to make the right choice when it comes to purchasing the fish that you will later be serving at your home.
The world is highly dependent on the ocean for its food supply as well as its oxygen. The bad news is that this is something that does not always get protected, especially in recent years. In order to truly be working to preserve the ability of the oceans to produce our food it is important to make sure that the fish we eat are being sustainably caught. A sustainable catch is one where the benthic habitat does not get destroyed, something that will help fish to reproduce in appropriate numbers. When there are appropriate measures that are being taken, the fish that are raised will be able to be eaten with confidence. Otherwise, what will end up happening is that large numbers of fish could end up disappearing instead of reproducing.
When you are choosing seafood to eat, it is important to make sure that you go with the sustainable option. Making small choices in the way that you end up purchasing and consuming your food can have a large impact on the way that our oceans end up developing over the long haul. Instead of worrying about whether or not your fish is sustainably produced, a much better solution is to go directly to the source and make sure that everything is ok. With the power of the internet, it is now possible to connect directly with the supplier and make sure that the fish that you end up eating is actually OK to be eating. If your supplier is unable to confirm that the fish in question was caught without destroying a Bentham habitat, then you should go somewhere else.
Start by learning what you can about the oceans. This will instill awe, respect, and most likely a passion in you for all things sea, and the more you know, the more you will understand the importance of doing our bit to care for the oceans. Some of the things to read up on include the problems of overfishing, the impacts of climate change on the ocean, the impact of agricultural/industrial/sewage waste in the oceans, and the ways in which ocean systems work. Learn about the species in the ocean, and the geological features and hazards, and finally, but importantly, learn about how much human beings rely on the oceans for everything from livelihood and nutrition, to relaxation and hobbies.
If you don't already know about such events as the depletion of the Grand Banks codfish fishery, read up on them and learn about how centuries of fishing sustainably has been overtaken by huge industrial fishing boats, nets much larger than several football fields, and factory trawlers. If you're not concerned yet, then consider that scientists are very worried, to the point of saying that there will be no fish for us to pull from the seas in 50 years if we continue to carry on fishing as we are now. Scientists have recently found out that the Earth has run out of room to expand fisheries, so we're left with what we have already depleted.
Know what not to put down your drains.Pollution from drains can often end up in the seas and it's here that you can do a great deal as a householder, by following these simple steps:
- Do not dispose of paint, solvents, cleaners, pesticides, or other chemicals down the drain. Know what is hazardous waste and find out about local collection and recycling programs in your area.
- Dispose of used motor oil properly. Find out if your city or town has a recycling program, or ask if local auto shops can help.
- Never dump chemicals onto soil or roads, or down storm drains.
- Use pesticides and herbicides sparingly or not at all. Even if you don't live near the sea, much of the run-off from your garden ends up down the drain, which wends its way down to the sea eventually.
Tolerate a few bugs (many can actually help your garden) or use natural pest control methods. Crowd out weeds, smother them, or pull them by hand.
- Use ocean-friendly products. Paints, soaps, nail polish, and other chemicals can harm the ocean life.
- Dispose safely of mercury items such as old batteries, thermometers, and Compact Fluorescent Light-bulbs (CFL). Hand them in to your local mercury disposal center to make sure they are disposed of properly and efficiently.
Dispose of your trash with care. The manner in which you get rid of your household and business trash matters a great deal. Some items can create enormous harm if they reach the oceans, such as the plastic ring six-pack holders used for cans/bottles, and plastic bags. Sea animals and birds get caught in these items, or ingest them as "food", and suffer slow, agonizing deaths.
- If you must purchase items with plastic six-pack holders, cut the top into small pieces prior to disposal.
- Recycle as much as you can. The more, the better, so it goes nowhere else than into the virtuous cycle of humans reusing our own junk.
- Hold on to your balloons. Many of them land in the ocean and lose their color. Animals think they are jellyfish or other tasty morsels, swallow them, and die painfully, often by starvation as the balloon blocks their ability to feed.
- Reduce the amount of trash coming out of your house by not even bringing home items that end up as trash. Use reusable bags, leave packaging with the store (ask them to reduce it in future), buy unprocessed food products without packaging, prefer stores and items that have less packaging, and simply buy less.
Keep your plumbing in good shape and use water sparingly. Not only does this ensure that your house retains its worth and guards you and your family's health, maintaining your plumbing and having regular checks on it is important for ensuring that nothing untoward is leaking seaward. Moreover, don't waste water; water tends to find its way back to the sea eventually and the more fresh water you use, the more you are depleting a precious resource. And the more we add to water by way of cleaning products, personal hygiene products, medicines, and other added chemicals and items, the more we increase the potential for polluting the sea.
- If your house is served by a septic system, make sure it is inspected and pumped out every three years.
- Never allow raw toilet waste to enter the ocean from your property. Not only is this unhygienic for human users of the ocean (and therefore usually regulated) but it harms the sea life as well.
- Install water-saving toilets. These save you money and save on how much water is used and needs to be treated.
- Install shower heads that restrict the flow of water. Faucet flow can be likewise restricted.
- Take shorter showers, use timers in the garden for watering, turn off the water when brushing your teeth, and ensure that your washing machine and dishwasher are fill before doing a washing load.
- If you can install a gray-water system for your home, this can be of enormous benefit as you will be able to reuse a lot of your household water for watering the garden and other suitable external uses.
- Cover your pool to prevent loss by evaporation. A covered pool can cut the loss of water by up to 90 percent.
- Support budget measures as needed to upgrade municipal waste-water treatment systems to improve pollution control.
Learn the difference between sustainably caught seafood and non-sustainably caught seafood. Only purchase seafood that has been harvested in a sustainable manner and voice your concerns about unsustainable methods on your blog, through letters and petitions to companies and to companies responsible for poor fishing practices, and by contacting your local representative. There are many seafood guides available online that help guide you in knowing which fish are caught sustainably; for example, in the United States, The Monterrey Bay Aquarium runs a program called "Seafood Watch" that includes a pocket-sized guide that you can download.[8] Such pocket guides are available for many parts of the world, just do an online search for more information.
- Support stores and supermarkets that sell sustainably caught seafood.
- Choose to go to restaurants that support the sale of sustainably caught seafood. Point out to those restaurants that don't sell sustainable catch that you're not going to patronize them until they do and that you will also ask your family and friends to steer clear until the restaurant changes its policies.
Join a beach or underwater clean-up group. If you want to get hands on and do something really useful, clean-up is a great way to get involved. Beach clean-ups are usually organized locally by community groups or municipalities, and in some places they're even country-wide on specific dates. These are great for family outings because children will be able to help collect trash from the shoreline and will have a real sense of achievement once it's done. For underwater clean-ups, you'll need to know how to dive but this is just as satisfying, knowing that you're removing the plastic bags, plastic items, twine, containers, etc., that inevitably find their way to the ocean.
- Don't litter. This simple decision can make a huge difference; every piece of litter near the seaside has the potential to end up in the ocean, whether it makes its way there by wind, tides, or by animal carriers. Put all of your trash in designated trash bins or take it home for proper disposal.
- Volunteer at a local wildlife preserve located near a body of water to help out on a cleanup effort. Your work will be appreciated.
- Consider donating your time or money to a non-profit organization whose mission includes ocean conservation.
Carpool. This can help you take the fast lane to work or school, as well as helping you to conserve gasoline. You might consider buying a hybrid car, which uses regenerative braking and saves gasoline and money. Also, you could use mass transit, such as trains or buses. Doing this allows you to do things such as reading the newspaper or actually enjoy your coffee, which you couldn't do peacefully while driving. Diesel, gas, and smokestack emissions can lead to haze, toxic emissions, or acid rain, which can lead to harmful effects in the oceans.
Enthuse your kids in the love of oceans. Children are fantastic ambassadors for the sea; they love beaches, they love learning about sea life, and they're usually keen on swimming, boat rides, and other sea activities. Take them to the beach as often as you can and spend time talking to them about the sea, the dunes, the animals they can see, and answer their questions about the ocean. Explain to them why it is important to take care of the ocean.
- Take a litter bag with you when you visit the beach and pick up visible litter, such as fishing line, plastic bags, bottles, and other trash. Naturally, don't stick your fingers inside containers or under anything that might harbor a biting beastie; use your common sense and take gardening gloves if you're concerned about touching things with your bare hands.
Keep your boat green. When cleaning and sprucing up your boat, think about the ocean. Most of what you're doing on a boat will end up in the ocean, so it's important to be thoughtful about the impact of your activities. Prefer cleaning solutions, paint, varnish, etc., that have been approved as ocean-friendly. If you're not sure, contact your local boating association or a local marine environment association for more details relevant to your area, and read wikiHow's How to boat green for more details.
Focus your career on marine conservation. If you're really keen about doing your part to protect the oceans, a career focused on the oceans might be the way to go for you. There are plenty of options, including becoming a marine biologist, a government fisheries expert, an oceans law expert, an oceans management expert, an environmentally friendly boat cleaner, a shoreline zoologist or botanist, or even an oceans policy adviser in government or a political party.
