Importance of the Ocean
Why Is The Ocean Important?
While many of us live, work and play by the ocean, our understanding of its importance is often unclear.
The ocean is a massive body of water that covers 72% of the planet. Due to its size, it is often hard to conceive of how much our oceans impact our lives. As climate change and pollution threaten this valuable life source, it’s important to evaluate just how critical the big blue is to life on Earth.
In this blog post we’ll take a look at 3 reasons why the ocean is important. The list is truly endless, but these examples provide a few major reasons to #GoGreenForTheBigBlue.
1. The ocean supplies us with half of all our oxygen
That’s right—the ocean indirectly helps us fill our lungs with fresh, clean air. This is because of phytoplanktons. These single-celled organisms are the core of ocean food chains, while helping supply air by pumping out oxygen on a regular basis.
However, global contributions to pollution and drastic changes in the ocean are killing phytoplanktons and hindering their ability to survive. This puts us all in danger, especially the animals and plant life in the ocean.
2. The ocean supplies jobs
It’s difficult to say how many jobs the ocean directly and indirectly provides globally. Yet many estimates say that it adds $1.5 trillion USD annually to the global economy and is responsible for the livelihood of 10%-15% of the world’s population. That means that as many as 1,050,000,000 people are dependent on the ocean for their day-to-day economic standing.
However, billions of other people also depend on the ocean in a more direct way. Climate change will not just affect those in the fishing industry, but also those who sell their catch in the local markets or even lifeguards who protect beaches. Some other industries that will be affected include:
Trade
Jewelry
Tourism
Agriculture
Restaurants
And many more!
The ocean impacts almost every single person indirectly, from the clothes that we wear to the food that we eat. Without clean oceans, we will all suffer.
3. The ocean supports life
Humans are not the only inhabitants on the planet and since the ocean covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, it’s safe to say that millions of plants and animals also depend on it. Around the world, millions of humans also live on or near coastlines, making their lives somehow dependent on the ocean as well.
In addition, the ocean is a major climate regulator. It absorbs carbon, maintains global temperatures, regulates rain and droughts and while helping to regulate predictable weather patterns. This supports life in a multitude of ways, from helping us decide where to build houses to how we farm our crops.
What can we do?
The ocean is a huge resource and habitat for many and it is changing quickly. Climate change and pollution are threatening this valuable life source. While most of us are at least aware of the potential consequences that our actions have on the state of the ocean, many of us do not fully understand the scale of its impact. As written inNational Geographic:
“These threats to the ocean are so extensive that more than 40 percent of the ocean has been severely affected and no area has been left untouched.”
When it comes to tourism, it’s within the industry’s best interest to lead conservation efforts. This is because as the ocean changes, popular tourist destinations will become less and less popular due to the consequences of pollution, overfishing and many other impacts.
This is why at Sea Going Green, we’re working with tourism companies to help them to change their ways and become more conservation-friendly. We empower companies to #GoGreenForTheBigBlue and change the world for the better.