Journal 4: Background Knowledge

For many people, the ocean is a happy place. For the same amount of people, it’s terrifying. I have always felt drawn to the ocean- if I could swim everywhere instead of drive, I would. It is a place of mental clarity and happiness for me that becomes hard to put into words. The way tides work depending on the moon, the way fish interact with the coral reef...it is al so fascinating to me. That’s why it makes perfect sense for me to dedicate my life to trying to save it some day.

As far as what I already know about ocean conservation and the general situation of the ocean as it currently stands, I don’t know nearly enough. What I do know is that human activity such as plastic overproduction and improper disposal methods of harmful waste as well as oil spills, cargo ship mishaps, and unsustainable fishing methods have put our ocean in an unwell state. For the ecosystem that spawned all life and controls practically our entire world, we sure do love to push its buttons.

The ocean’s coral reefs are at a greater risk than ever- these masses of skeletal clusters consisting of polyps are shelter for our marine life as well as offering coastline protection. WE HAVE ROYALLY SCREWED THEM OVER. Mass amounts of coral reefs are dying and turning white, meaning that if these things are gone and a tropical storm hits, we’re toast. Millions of marine organisms will lose their habitats.

So, how do we fix that? There are some basic steps we can all take that will further better the impact of what must be done to get plastic out of the ocean. For starters, microbeads in cosmetics like exfoliators and toothpaste. These harmful bits break down into microplastic that pollutes our ocean and makes fish sick. If you don’t care about fish, let’s journey back to 10th grade biology. Biomagnification tells us that these harmful buildups in fish will magnify as we consume them. Since 1/5th of the world relies on fish for their main source of protein, this poses a substancial threat to human health. Cutting down on microbead cosmetic consumption as well as proper recycling of any plastic products is a must.

On a level bigger than just one person, we as an industrial society need to do more to prevent oil spills into our oceans. One that comes to mind was BP’s oil spill a few years back when millions of tons of oil was poured into Gulf of Mexico, coating aquatic animals in oil and our oceans in filth. We also need to monetize the removal of plastic trash from our oceans to keep the world’s largest ecosystem in its prime.