How The Ocean Impacts Your Life
In honor of World Ocean Day, the Waste to Energy team wanted to dedicate our daily blog to why the oceans are so important and why we should protect them. Whether you are landlocked or live coastal, the oceans play a role in everyone’s lives. Many scientists say the ocean is at a tipping point. Oceanographer Sylvia Earle says our actions over the next 10 years will determine the state of the ocean for the next 10,000 years.
Here are the top 5 reasons we should make protecting our oceans a focal point.
Reason # 1: The air we breathe. Oceans are a critical player in the basic elements we need to survive. Ocean plants produce half of the world’s oxygen, then these amazing waters absorb nearly one-third of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Oceans also regulate our weather and form the clouds that bring us fresh water.
Reason #2: The food on your plate. Besides seafood, oceans are connected to what you eat in many more ways. Ocean ingredients, like algae and kelp, are used in making peanut butter, beer, soymilk and frozen foods. Plus, 36 percent of the world’s total fisheries catch each year is ground up into fishmeal and oil to feed farmed fish, chickens and pigs. The ocean is the #1 source of protein for more than a billion people.
Reason #3: The items in your medicine cabinet. You’ll find ocean ingredients flowing out of your medicine cabinet in everything from shampoos and cosmetics to medicines that help fight cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, viruses and other diseases.
Reason #4: Jobs and the economy. One in six jobs in the United States is marine-related and more than $128 billion in GDP annually results from ocean tourism, recreation and living resources. Healthy marine habitats like reefs, barrier islands, mangroves and wetlands help protect coastal communities from the results of hurricanes and storm surges.
Reason #5: A shared resource. While many of us enjoy the spectacular recreational activities that oceans offer, for some people oceans are a lifeline for survival. Keeping oceans healthy keeps people healthy, and we each have a personal responsibility to protect our oceans.
The Waste to Energy team believes in a sustainable, healthy world, by land or sea. By reducing our impact on land through concepts like recycling and renewable energy, we will aid in protecting the most important resource the Earth has.
Excerpts of this blog were sourced from http://www.nature.org/. #worldoceanday #sustainableearth #protectandserveouroceans
