By Lydia Shen Editor-In-Chief at Koru Magazine, for World Ocean Month 2023.

The summer months are a time of vacation for many. Families flock to sandy beaches by the handful, seeking the cool, serene refuge of the waves and the water. But the ocean is more than just a place to cool off in the hot summer – it is the lifeblood of our very existence, with functions that range from regulating temperatures to absorbing carbon dioxide, and from kindling weather events to sustaining life itself. Though we have explored less than 20% of it, there is no doubt that the ocean is essential to maintaining a healthy global ecosystem, economy, and livelihood. However, despite its significance, it is currently facing a host of threats due to human activity – threats that will only get worse if we do nothing about them.

 

Why does the ocean matter?

The ocean is a key player in many processes, one of them being climate regulation. When radiation from the sun reaches the Earth, it heats tropical waters around the equator first. Through a conveyor belt of currents, the ocean transports that warm water to the poles and transports colder water from the poles back to the equator, thus regulating the global temperature. Its temperature-mediating properties are also apparent in coastal cities, which experience far less fluctuation in temperature over a year when compared to inland cities.

Almost all water that ever rains from the sky originated in the ocean. It is essential to global weather patterns, storing more than 96% of all water found on Earth. For instance, tropical storms occur when warm equatorial waters evaporate and create pockets of humidity, allowing storms to form. These storms are subsequently carried by trade winds across the globe. This unfortunately also means that as the oceans get warmer due to climate change, more storms arise.

Beyond weather and temperature patterns, the ocean harbors an abundance of diverse ecosystems that allow life to thrive. Coral reefs, for instance, are highly productive and help protect coastlines from storms and erosion. A wide variety of fish and marine life depend on coral reefs – and in turn, people, who depend on fishing and tourism for their income. Other aquatic ecosystems, like kelp forests and mangrove forests, provide coastal protection and form the bottom of the food chain. Without them, hundreds of species would find themselves without food or habitat, eventually harming humans as well. Many marine organisms also seem to have promising biomedical applications – for example, marine collagen may prove useful in regenerative medicine – and are currently being tested by scientists. This makes it even more imperative that we conserve and protect our oceans.

Another vital function of the ocean is managing oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Astonishingly, more than half of all oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean – and just one species of bacteria, Prochlorococcus, produces more than all terrestrial rainforests combined! Given that pretty much all humans and animals rely on oxygen to breathe, it’s nearly impossible to understate the importance of the ocean to our daily lives. The ocean also acts as a major carbon sink, absorbing roughly 30% of our carbon dioxide emissions. From generating the oxygen we need to survive to maintaining our climate, the ocean holds the keys to a healthy, sustainable world for all.

Us vs. the Ocean

Irresponsible human activity has devastating effects on our planet as a whole, but even more so to our ocean. We live on a blue planet – but its vibrance seems to be fading more and more every day. Each year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic find their way to our ocean. These plastics take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to break down. In the meantime, they are swept by ocean currents to form large floating masses, the biggest of which is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This massive patch is nearly twice the size of Texas and contains over 70 thousand tons of plastic. All of this plastic is extremely deadly to wildlife, who run the risk of mistaking plastic items for their next meal and ending up trapped or suffocated. How would you feel if you were directly responsible for the death of a wild animal, living in its natural habitat? That’s the effect that discarding just one plastic bag can potentially have.

Pollution is also a main source of marine habitat degradation. When agricultural fertilizers or industrial wastewaters make their way to open bodies of water, they deposit high levels of nutrients and minerals in the water, causing plant life to blossom. Eventually, the oxygen levels in the water are depleted due to continuous photosynthesis, and the animals who need oxygen suffocate and die. These areas become dead zones, where no animal life exists. To date, there are over 400 dead zones worldwide, a number that has increased dramatically in recent years.

Climate change, too, has left no corner of the world untouched, including our ocean. Rising temperatures increase both the severity and the rate of occurrence of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, wreaking havoc on vulnerable coastal communities. Ice cap melt and rising sea levels have already begun to place some coastal cities underwater, not to mention the loss of habitat that polar species resultantly suffer. More atmospheric carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels means that our oceans have to absorb more CO2 than ever before. Unfortunately, when carbon dioxide mixes with water, a weak acid forms – and this has devastating consequences for marine life. Many marine invertebrates have shells made out of calcium carbonate, a substance that dissolves when in contact with acid. Coral skeletons are also made of calcium carbonate, so they are unable to grow and end up dying out. In turn, the species that rely on coral reefs for habitat and protection also begin to dwindle.

The list of problems our ocean is facing goes on and on, but the same conclusion persists: humans are responsible for much of the damage caused to the ocean today. There is no avoiding the fact that almost all of our actions have environmental consequences. Even if their immediate impact isn’t obvious, they can cause long-term damage that will come back to harm us. Protecting the ocean is a major first step to ensuring a safe and healthy world for all, and it cannot be overlooked. The ocean does so much for us – it is only right that we do the same for it.

So how can I help?

Eliminating single-use plastics. An easy way to start is by cutting single-use plastic products from your daily routine whenever possible. Though they're convenient, single-use plastic products seriously threaten human and environmental health, harming marine animals, creating microplastics, and contaminating seafood. If you can't completely forgo single-use plastics, you should try to reuse and recycle them whenever possible. For instance, opt for reusable shopping bags and water bottles, or repurpose a plastic grocery bag to line your wastebasket.

Use non-toxic cleaning & household products. Consider using non-toxic cleaning products to mitigate the effects of ocean pollution. Many common surfactants biodegrade very slowly, accumulating in surface runoff and entering our waterways. The toxic chemicals in these products can threaten aquatic organisms and habitats. Products with high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in particular can cause eutrophication. Check to see if your products are certified as eco-friendly before buying them at the store.

Choose your seafood responsibly. About 85% of marine fish stocks are exploited or overfished. Other fisheries produce huge amounts of bycatch, catching fish that they don't need and throwing them back – a practice that is highly damaging to many species. By choosing your seafood wisely, you can help preserve our oceans. Switch your fish species every so often to help maintain stable and healthy fish stocks; ask your supermarket if their fish is pole- and line-caught rather than caught from bottom trawling, ghost fishing, or longlines; buy from local fisheries rather than commercial ones.

Spread the message! Raising awareness about the importance of our ocean and what we can do to protect it is the most effective way to stir meaningful change. Whenever possible, encourage your friends and family to join you in sustainable practices, from something as small as recycling their plastic bags to changing their diet entirely. Use the internet to amplify your voice, whether it be getting in touch with local environmental groups, advocating for the causes you care about, or publishing your work in environmental publications. The future of the world is empty without the promise of a healthy ocean, and to fulfill that promise, it will take each and everyone of us, doing all we can.

Sources:

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The Mangrove Ecosystem: Extreme Conditions and Extremely High Biodiversity. National Geographic, National Geographic Society, education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ the-mangrove-ecosystem/.

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NOAA. "How much oxygen comes from the ocean?" National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1 Feb. 2023, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-oxygen.html.

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WWF. "Sustainable Seafood." World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/industries/sustainable- seafood.