One Ocean, One Climate, One Future

Happy World Oceans Day! I honestly didn't even know it was World Oceans Day until I opened my gmail this morning and found the latest from Oceana, an environmental advocacy group I get updates from. Nor did I realize that World Oceans Day was proposed by the Canadian government in 1992 and has been unofficially celebrated every year - until 2009 when the United Nations chose to officially recognize June 8 as World Oceans Day each year.

The day provides "an opportunity each year to celebrate our world ocean and our personal connection to the sea." This year's theme is "one ocean, one climate, one future." As with the rest of the environment, our oceans are are need of as much help as we can provide. So to help promote the ocean conservation message, the Ocean Project is urging ocean lovers to Wear Blue and Tell Two.

An addition to wearing something blue (easy, I didn't it without knowing today!) they encourage us to tell people two things they likely don't know about our ocean and how they can help. So here are two random facts for you:

1. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, coral reefs support more specifies per unit area than any other marine environment.

2. According to the UN approximately 2/3 of ocean species are overfished, and many types of ocean farming are highly damaging to coastal environments. A study in the journal Science projected that, without a change, the populations of all wild fish species currently caught will collapse by the year 2050.

And I'll even bring this full circle by recommending a book for all you ocean lovers out there - there is a Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover's Soul, to help you reconnect with the magic of the ocean.

Let's Talk About Trash

Along with my passion for books, I am also a huge ocean lover. Anyone that knows me know I'm happiest near or in the water. (I also have a small obsession of dolphins.) And when I was younger I used to be a nut about recycling and pollution. I was the little kid who would break apart those plastic things that held the soda bottles together so some poor bird or turtle wouldn't die in it. Well, I've lost some of that younger enthusiasm, but realize conservation is more important now than ever.

I am on a list serve for the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems. Today I received their annual report: A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris, and it was very eye opening. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, "Marine litter is one of the most pervasive and solvable pollution problems plaguing the world's ocean and waterways." 

Some interesting facts:

• During the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup, nearly 400,000 volunteers picked up an astounding 6.8 million pounds of trash.
• During the 2008 Cleanup, volunteers collected 11,0777 diapers in the Philippines, 19,504 fishing nets in the United Kingdom, and 1,362,741 cigarette butts in the US (gross!).
• Of the 43 items tracked during the Cleanup, the tops 3 items of trash found in 2008 were cigarette butts, plastics bags, and food wrappers/containers. 
• The majority of the entangles animals found during the Cleanup were bound up by old fishing line.

So what can we do to help stop it? It seems so easy, yet few of us (including myself) take these simple steps:

• Expand public and private partnerships to monitor and reduce marine debris and fund research on the sources/impacts of debris
• Reduce, reuse, recycle. Much of what winds up in the ocean wasn't truly necessary in the first place; recycle and use cloth grocery bags.
• Seek better technological solutions.  The report gave an example of the ITW Hi-Cone company that developed a photodegradable six-pack holder (that thing I used to cut up as a little kid). The rings float in the water and within days sunlight reduces their strength and they eventually crumble, leaving animals unharmed.

Finally, the point of the report was to advertise for International Coastal Cleanup - get to your local beach and pick up some trash! Even if you live miles from the beach, a piece of trash can quickly and easily make its way to the ocean...so just pick it up!