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Loading...Plastic, pH and Acid: The State Of Our Oceans
Care2 Earth Month: Back to Basics
This year, Care2 decided to expand Earth Day into Earth Month, since there is so much to explore when it comes to the environment. Every day in April, we’ll have a post about some of the most important topics for the environment, exploring and explaining the basics. It’s a great tool to help you get started with helping the environment or help explain it to others. See the whole series here.
Ocean. The word conjures up images of vast blue water, of sandy beaches or rocky juts of coastline where water permanently crashes in rhythmic thunderous waves, soaking us in salty mist. The oceans are where all life began on our planet, and where the most biodiversity of any habitat still exists. The oceans feed us and sustain us, nourish our bodies and our souls, support the very life on this earth.
But for how long? Their very vastness led mankind to believe that the oceans were invulnerable, able to absorb all of our mistakes, all of our unwanted messes, and that these messes would simply disappear, never to be seen again. But the hard truth is, our oceans are not invulnerable. They are, in fact, at risk. In the last 100 years, the changes in our oceans are visibly noticeable — and time is running out before we destroy it all.
97% of the water on earth at any given moment is in the ocean. The water does go through cycles of evaporation, rainfall, then eventual return to the sea through any number of paths. Free running fresh water, the water you and I use every day in our taps, that industry uses in its operations, accounts for less than 1% of all the water on the planet — and all of that water eventually returns to the ocean. But in what state? And what do we do with it when it’s there?
Read more: Atlantic, care2 earth day, causes earth day, climate change, earth day, fossil fuels, garbage patch, global warming, oceans, oysters, pacific, sharks, sustainable development, water
Top photo: Jill Clardy on Flickr
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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57 comments
+ add your ownHumans are self destructing at a rapid pace
Ma perchè non si ripuliscono mari,fiumi e oceani che sono la nostra vita? Solo e sempre per una questione di soldi e di tornaconto dei governi.
The state of our oceans???? One word..................SICK
YES IT CAN BE DONE LYNN...LET'S DO IT
we need to look at our goverments and decide if they should be on the shores themselves!
we pay with our money....they live in big white houses and eat 3 meals a day no problem...
big fancy cars...holidays $$$$ big time...we really need to see you CLEANING UP WITH YOUR HANDS AND LOVED ONES... FOR WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MAJOR MESS.
We really need to recycle everything including carbon to make any dent in our problems. Before the industrial era, the world managed to recycle carbon without anyone realizing that it was a problem. Now, between overpopulation and over industrialization, we really need to make a conscious effort.
In reading through the five pages I noticed the absence of indicating the leading cause of debris found in the ocean over the past few years - toxic non-biodegradible cigarette butts littered by humans all over the globe. Due to the decline in the smoking rate in the US, perhaps that debris cause will be reduced in our country but with the underdeveloped countries smoking consumption rate expected to skyrocket in the next decade, the environmental issues in oceans globally still will remain a major concern.
The creatures that survive any degree of pH balance of any ocean anytime... are the ones that continue to populate the oceans, just as they did before when it was more acidic or alkaline. In either case, for our state today, we have to better concentrate on the industrial dumping of 'everything' including non-degradable materials (plastic) and toxic materials.
Folks who want to believe in 'survival of the fittest'... should accept ANY continued 'evolution pressures' for creatures to either survive the 'new' environment, or get extinct fast. Of course, I do not believe in any such 'survival of the fittest', but a proper 'good steward' of the earth, and not dumping 'untreatable-garbage' into our own 'bio-home'... We have science and tech, we should be altering all 'garbage' into reusable form that isn't a form fit for mere 'dumping'.
NOTED!
thanks
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