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Why Are The Oceans Important?

The oceans support all life forms on earth. It provides us with food, medicine,

employment, transportation for goods, and fun activities to do year round. According to the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), our ocean produces 50% of the air

we breathe and absorbs more carbon dioxide than our atmosphere. Our ocean covers 70% of the

earth’s surface, regulating the world’s temperature. This affects our climate and weather patterns.

(2014.)

Threats To Our Ocean

Some harmful contaminants to the ocean’s ecosystem:

● Oceanic Acidification

○ Ocean Acidification is a growing problem in our modern day society.

According to Brian Erikson and Tracy Crews, When the oceans absorb

high levels of C02 the acidity levels increase causing the natural pH levels

in the oceans, that help maintain the ecosystem, to fail and becomes

compromised. (Erikson & Crews)

○ “Ocean acidification is linked to climate change…carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere disrupts the natural order of ocean life”​ (Earth Eclipse).

Chemicals from factory smoke get absorbed by the oceans. This destroys

the natural pH levels in the waters and effects the ecosystem, killing coral

and other marine plants. This may also reduce oxygen levels.

● Overfishing
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○ Overfishing disrupts the food chain. As reported by World Wild Life:

“Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can

replace through natural reproduction.”

○ Many fish population, like the sea bass, have declined. Their species may

go extinct.

○ More than 30% of fish markets are pushing beyond them to the point of

collapse. (​World Wildlife Fund​).

● Pollution

○ Plastics

■ About 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year and create

rings of litter around the ocean (Marine Plastic Pollution). Plastic

can be a harmful marine to live; Sea animals like fish and turtles

mistake plastics as food, causing death by entanglement or poison

and leading to a chemical contaminant in the fish we consume.

■ Tiny pieces of plastic called microbeads can be found in everyday

products like face washes, toothpaste, and abrasive cleaners. The

microbeads are small enough to pass various water treatments.

This usually leads to microbeads in our oceans.

■ It has been found that our table salt and tap water has microbeads.

More than 80% of the water samples collected from 5 continents

tested positive for plastic fibers (Carrington).

○ Oil Spills
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■ Causes:

● Natural Disasters and human activities

● Wars, Vandals, Illegal dumping into the oceans, acts of

terrorists.

● Oil tanker equipment breakdowns

● Watersports: Jet skis and Motorboats

● Drilling work carried to the seas

■ Oil floats on the surface of saltwater (the ocean) and freshwater

(rivers). The oil can stretch until it becomes a very thin layer called

a sheen. This can be harmful to marine life because the oil exposes

the animals to harmful elements. For example, oil spills can

damage a sea bird’s water repelling abilities of their feathers.

Animals may also ingest the oil trying to clean themselves leading

to death from poison.

■ A spill can disrupt the habitat and breeding of all aquatic life.

(Blaettler).

○ Sewage

■ According to ​Sciencing,​ there are four main types of sewage waste:

● Domestic

○ Domestic water waste carries microbeads, bacteria,

fungi, parasites, and viruses.

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○ Health problem caused by sewage waste impact

about 3.5 million people in America per year.

○ Things like e.coli, salmonella, cholera, giardia,

roundworms, and hepatitis A can be found in water

waste.

● Industrial

○ Industrial water waste can contain heavy metals

such as lead, mercury, and arsenic. Not all chemical

can be removed through the water phase treatments.

○ These metals can be found in the tissue of the fish

we eat. This may lead to food poisoning.

○ Industrialism also has an impact on our air. Our

ocean absorbs all the CO2 and harmful chemicals in

our air. This impact ocean life and destroys the

ecosystem.

● Agricultural

○ Materials from fertilizers contain pesticides that

cause freshwater and marine ecosystems to create

excessive algae resulting in oxygen depletion.

○ Some algae contain toxins that are harmful to

humans and aquatic life.

○ Not all types of algae are bad for the ocean.

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● Urban

○ Urban sewage includes the drainage systems in our

cities that lead to the oceans. 70% of litter from

urban sewage ends up on the seabed, 15% lands on

beaches and another 15% floats on the ocean

surface (Blaettler).

○ Aquatic life interacts with the litter by eating it,

living in it, or getting tangled up in the trash.

Why Should We Care?

The ocean is the largest ecosystem and supplies the world with 50% of oxygen. Our

oceans provide us with food and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help keep our air

clean and reduce climate change impacts. The oceans help keep our economy running. Everyone

should want to protect the ocean because, without it, we will not survive. The ocean depends on

us just as much as we depend on it. Many view the ocean as infinite--the reality is human activity

is destroying the ocean. At the rate we are going, there will be no future. If the ocean dies we die.

What Can We Do?

You do not need to live by the ocean in order to protect our waters. What we can do to

get involved is to educate ourselves on our oceans and marine life. We could try to use fewer

plastic product, that includes using ocean-friendly products like body soaps and toothpaste

without microbeads. Another to help protect the ocean is getting​ involved with your community
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and government. Government lacks ​environmental laws. Understanding who you are voting for

and asking questions may make a difference in our community. Help save electricity by

unplugging the things you are not using for the time being and making sure to turn off the lights

in the room you are not in. Support organizations that are working on protecting our oceans.

Also, volunteer to clean the oceans, if you do not live by one, then volunteer some time to clean

up your community. There is always something we can do to help the earth and the ocean. Even

if you consider it to be something small, it makes a huge impact on the survival of our ocean.
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Works Cited

US Department of Commerce, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Our

Ocean.” ​NOAA's National Ocean Service,​ 31 May 2014,
oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/june14/30days.html.

Erikson, B. and Crews, T. “FROM DISSOLUTION TO SOLUTION: New Approaches to

Teaching Ocean Acidification.” Science Teacher, vol. 86, no. 5, Jan. 2019, pp. 56–63.
EBSCOhost,
libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=13
3659935&site=eds-live​.

Frisch, L.C., J.T. Mathis, N.P. Kettle, and S.F. Trainor. 2015. Gauging perceptions
of ocean acidification in Alaska. Marine Policy 53: 101–10. doi:10.1016/j.
Marpol.2014.11.022.

“Causes, Effects and Solutions of Ocean Acidification.” Earth Eclipse, 8 Feb. 2016,
www.eartheclipse.com/environment/causes-effects-solutions-of-ocean-acidification.html​.

“MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION.” ​Ocean Unite,​

www.oceanunite.org/issues/marine-plastic-pollution/​.

Carrington, Damian. “Plastic Fibres Found in Tap Water around the World, Study Reveals.” ​The
Guardian,​ Guardian News and Media, 5 Sept. 2017,
www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-st
udy-reveals​.

Blaettler, Karen G. “The Effects of Sewage on Aquatic Ecosystems.” ​Sciencing.com,​ Sciencing,

2 Mar. 2019, sciencing.com/effects-sewage-aquatic-ecosystems-21773.html.

“Overfishing.” ​WWF​, World Wildlife Fund, ​www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing​.

Accessed 3 March 2019.
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Dear Professor Packer,

My report is about the importance of our oceans and bringing awareness to the everyday
threats it endures. We have learned that climate change is a big deal but it seems not many
people are knowledgable on the subject. Our oceans are basic essentials to our survival and in
my report, I try to provide the reader with information as to why they are so important to all life
on earth. Originally in my report, was going to be about what the ocean provides us, but it was
not enough because it felt bland. I then decided to write about the threats to our oceans and
provide information that explains why a specific problem is a threat and the chain reaction it
creates. At least that's what I tried.
There was so much information that I had sometimes found myself getting off topic. I
would have to redirect my attention back to my original idea. It was hard because some of it was
really good stuff to have but I did not flow well or it was basically a tangent. The findings are
presented in an organized fashion, I hope, so it should be easy to follow. I have used headers for
each topic so the flow was easy and not to harsh to read. At the end of the report, I tried going for
a pathos approach because it affects everyone, and I want people to read it and feel some sort of
duty or responsibility; the need to take action, even if it's doing something small like turning off
the lightings in a room you are not in or putting papers and plastics in the recycling.
I have learned a lot about our oceans. Things I never knew that caused damage to our
environment. I never knew that products with the tiny little beads in it have plastic, I thought
they were like miniature bath bombs that dissolve in the water. Or what I thought was the
craziest was learning that our tap water and table salt have microbeads in them.

Sincerely,

Michelle Estrada