Today is World Oceans Day!

Every June 8th is the official World Oceans Day, a celebration of all things connected to the ocean. The day focuses on raising awareness on issues related to the oceans, as well as promoting ideas to help protect and conserve all the oceans in the world.

Why you should care about conserving the ocean

Many people have a sort of distant relationship to the ocean, but it is of immense importance to all of us. The oceans are responsible for a lot of ecosystem services, including the storing of carbon dioxide, which is a huge problem these days with our extreme usage of fossil fuels. It is also a very important source of food and medicine, so it is important even if you are not really “using” the ocean resources directly by harvesting it personally.

It might not look like the oceans are in danger, but don’t be fooled! Image by Wikimedia user Teacherjourney, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Without oceans, the climate would be vastly different, and they are in fact one of the most important factors when it comes to climate control. Oceans are the main transportation of heat from the tropics to the polar regions, and many claim that ocean heat transportation is the primary reason why Western Europe is so temperate.

Oceans cover about 72 % of the surface of the earth, and is in some way integral to all life forms on earth. Estimations of species found in the ocean are close to two million different species, so it houses a very high amount of biodiversity! The species in the oceans are also generally more genetically diverse than those on terrestrial environments, so we need to protect these.

Some of the issues the ocean is facing

The oceans are in real danger these days, and both the ocean itself and its inhabitants are getting affected by the actions of the human race.

Climate change is a big problem for the oceans, and there are several problems with our emissions that are directly affecting the oceans, including:

The water becoming more acidic: Due to emissions in the form of carbon dioxide, the water will become more acidic, which will have a huge impact on shellfish and other species that uses calcium in their shells. They are simply not able to form the shells at a higher acidity level, and changes in their population can impact all other life forms in the ocean.

The water becoming hotter: When the climate gets hotter, the water also gets hotter. This will of course affect all the life there, and corals and microorganisms are probably the most affected by even smaller temperature changes. A warmer ocean will also mean that the sea level will rise, because most fluids (including water) will expand when they are heated (because the molecules moves faster).

More stormy weather: Climate change will most likely lead to an increase of more extreme weather over the oceans, which will also lead to more extreme weather on land. This will damage coral reefs, as well as most other coastal ecosystems.

Those are just a few of the problems that are directly related to climate change, but the point of it is that even these vast oceans are highly affected by our actions.

In addition to climate change, the oceans and its inhabitants are facing a lot of other problems, such as overfishing and pollution, both which directly affects the ecosystems once a species is affected.

There are many problems that needs to be solved, so I think a day to recognize these problems and working on solutions is a good thing. At this very moment the 2017 United Nations Ocean Conference is taking place, where the UN is working on strategies and plans to help save the ocean. They sure have a lot to decide on, and I hope they are able to make some good plans that can save the oceans before the damage gets too big.

Thanks for reading

Thanks for reading, and please celebrate the World Oceans Day yourself. Go ahead and tell your friends about the day, and share the knowledge with anyone that wants to listen! If you are interested to learn more, head over to the World Oceans Day website.