Down in the Depths: Ocean Awareness
One of the most mysterious, vast, and diverse places on our planet is the beauty we call the ocean. Covering 70% of the Earth's surface, this body of water is a rainbow of life churning endlessly about. The currents govern the worlds weather and is the home to millions of plants and animals. It houses a diverse world of animals, from tiny single-celled organisms to gigantic blue whales.
There is still so much that is unknown to us about the ocean. More than 80% of the ocean is unmapped and unexplored. There are still so many species that could still be out there waiting to be discovered.
What we have discovered, however, is still amazing to behold. The oceans is home to some of the worlds oldest creatures. The jellyfish and horseshoe crabs have been around for nearly a half a billion years.
However, our activity has greatly impacted the oceans. Marine life is suffering greatly from our pollution at alarming rates. One of the most common causes of pollution in the ocean is plastic, but it isn't the only thing out there hurting the environment. Littering, sewage, ocean mining, oil spills, and air pollution are just a few of the things that cause suffering to our oceans.
These things can cause extreme depletion of oxygen content in the water. The toxic waste can poison the marine life and animals living in the oceans. The toxins can also cause damage to the reproductive systems of some creatures those cutting down on those species greatly. The pollution of other fish will, of course, make them a contaminated food source for large fish like sharks, and it can have a serious effect on human health.
To combat this pollution drastic measures need to be taken.
Plastics are the most harmful thing to the environment due to its inability to break down. Marine life often mistake it for food and try to eat it which causes them extreme harm. Every year nearly 100,000 marine animals die from plastic ingestion of entanglement. There are 25 trillion pieces of plastic debris floating around in our oceans. The worlds biggest offenders in plastic pollution are China and Indonesia. Combined, the two make up one-third of the total oceans pollution.
There are even dead zones in the ocean where it is impossible for marine animal and plant life to thrive. 500 of these dead zones are similar in size to the United Kingdom.
Know that our air pollution harms the oceans as well, and humans contribute to a huge portion of the oceans noise pollution. This is caused by tankers, ships, high intensity sonar, and air guns. These cause injuries to fish and disrupts their habitats.
Hopefully this is all eye opening for you. This is a huge problem that deserves a great amount of attention. Make sure to recycle your plastics. Remember that every little bit counts when it comes to saving the planet.