Ocean Issues
I thought I’d start with the ocean because it’s such a wide, deep and beautiful aspect of our lives. And, as I already said, it’s essential. Because the ocean is so vast, and it’s obviously not habitable to us, there is a lot that goes out of sight, out of mind for us. I want us to shift our focus... I want it to be on the things that we cannot see. If we try to make a difference with only what we see, I don’t know about you guys, but at least for me, there wouldn’t be much environmental differences that I can see. Maybe a little garbage here and there... some nasty corporations hanging around... but when it comes to our oceans, imagine it’s your home, envision the issues facing it.. and understand the importance of making change!
So today we’re going to cover:
The Acidification of the Ocean
The North Pacific Garbage Patch
And Overfishing
Acidification .. and therefore, death and erosion among coral reefs
Something I never realized until recently is that the ocean acts like the trees. Yes, both of these beautiful forces of nature clean our air. The ocean, like trees, absorb carbon. Can anyone see where this is going?
Because humans are now releasing more carbon than ever before into the atmosphere, and because there are less and less trees to convert it back to oxygen, the ocean is becoming acidic from all the neutralizing it is trying to do. It can no longer keep up.
To me, that’s incredible. The massive, forever-stretching ocean, which still holds so much mystery and unknown, is becoming acidic because of the amount of carbon we are producing.
Because of this acidity, coral reefs are dying. The coral reefs are made up of calcium carbonate, which is secreted by the coral living in the reefs. Because the calcium carbonate is basic, and the ocean is becoming acidic, this ruins the structure of the coral, and therefore, the coral reefs.
We need to cut down our carbon usage! Here are some practices we use that spell out big carbon. Write comments below with more carbon-crazy activities, or expand on mine!
-Driving
-Eating habits –certain food
-Airplanes
-Products that we buy
You can read more about acidification here:
http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/acidification/
The North Pacific Gyre (aka, plastic, plastic, everywhere)
The North Pacific Garbage patch, (otherwise known as the North Pacific Gyre) is a massive dump of Garbage the floats in our ocean. It is becoming more and more public, but it still shocks me how it is not making headlines. The gyre is suspected to have been around for about 50 years. 15 years ago, Charles Moore, while taking a short cut through the gyre on a yacht race, discovered the Garbage patch. It is figured that others had seen it before, but Moore sold his share in his families oil company and founded Algalita Marine Research Foundation. An amazing move. It's actually a dream of mine to go out on a research trip to the Gyre with Algalita.
If you look it up online, there's tonnes of videos and information on the Garbage Patch. Most of it is the same, so I'll give you the low down here:
It is twice the size of Texas
The density of the patch is five times that of the Ocean
Most of the plastic is very small, microscopic even.
The plastic in the gyre is killing fish, turtles and sea birds. Animals and sea creatures may eat the plastic, thinking it is food, and this either poisons them first, or starves them for lack of nutrition.
Watch Cpt. Charles Moore on CBS. This video was one of the better ones. And it's up-to-date. Note that he says there are more Gyres. YIKES.
Next week I'll be talking more about Plastic, so stay tuned!
Overfishing and Trawling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXEXW-wQslE
Basically, what is happening, is massive amounts of fish and sea life are being fished into depletion. A big factor in this is that some the largest fish in the chain (ie, tuna and salmon) are the most desire for eating. However, the more of those that are being eaten, the less there are around to eat all the smaller fish. It is recommended that if you eat seafood, you eat at the bottom of the chain; sardines, herring, silversides.
Fishing these days involves large nets running along the water for hours. This causes several problems. Many different creatures are caught in these nets... turtles, dolphins, sharks, etc. They are not just thrown back. They are usually die by the nets, or are injured. This happens to the tune of billions of animals just wasted each year.
Trawling is destroying miles and miles of Ocean floor. Fisheries trawl for shrimp, and basically run big wheels with nets attached just above them so the nets won't get caught, but the wheels destroy everything in their path. This destroys all of the coral, rocks, and sea creatures living below.
Watch more here, he really put things into perspective:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_jackson.html
CHALLENGE:
Remember: You don't have to follow these to a "T". Be creative, find new ways... these are some suggestions. But, remember, try to keep it related to the things in this article... there's more topics to come!
*Find ways to reduce carbon
-Cut down your driving
-Eat local and organic
-Turn off the lights
-and more (I don't want to give it all away)
*Reduce use of single-use plastics
-No plastic forks, spoons, plates, bags... BRING YOUR OWN!
-Buy things with less, little, or no packing
*Pick-up some garbage along the shore
*Eat no fish or sea animals this week, find alternatives
*Comment below: In what ways is the Ocean and sustaining it's life, important to our existence?
Please submit your photos and brief description of changes you made by 3pm Sunday (March 18th) to cassm163@gmail.com
Thanks,
Blessings!
Cass
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