How would you feel if someone told you that your home would soon be underwater? Or that half of the oxygen you breathe in and need to survive would suddenly be gone? Both of these terrifying questions are unfortunately situations that with time could come true, as long as humans continue harming the ocean the way we have been. Mankind is hurting Earth’s largest life support system more and more each day. If we as people do not begin to put a stop to this, the effects will be completely catastrophic and disastrous to life. To begin solving this problem, it is detrimental for people to first realize what exactly they are doing to damage the ocean. While there are many different causes, some main contributing factors are global warming, the killing of marine life, and pollution. All three of these issues are ones that may be not only minimized, but possibly even eliminated as well.
Many say that global warming is an issue that is out of our control. However, the Earth’s rising temperature and higher sea levels can most definitely be changed by human beings. There are numerous ways to do so, from reducing fossil fuels and waste, to planting trees and conserving water. Renewable energy sources will also help with this harmful issue. These small, simple changes could be what makes the difference between sea levels rising (and putting people’s habitats underwater) and not.
Another alarming concern is the unacceptable amount of marine animals that are killed each year. The main cause of these deaths is through overfishing, which can most definitely be blamed on human beings themselves. According to overfishing.org, an organization that brings attention to overfishing and is attempting to put a stop to it, “fishing fleets are two to three times as large as needed to take present day catches of fish and other marine species and as what our oceans can sustainably support.” This fact is not okay by any means. Marine life contributes greatly to our Earth as a whole, and if we continue killing them at such fast speeds, they will eventually begin to die out, greatly affecting our entire world. If we continue to run the risk of losing individual ecosystems, in time, our ocean will possibly face being destroyed all together, which will lead to the demolition to our world as we know it. The most common reasons for overkilling is due to fish sales (for high seafood demand, etc.) however we must ask ourselves, is a serving of shrimp scampi really worth destroying our Earth? Overfishing can most certainly be solved, through safe catch limits, controls on bycatch, protection of important habitats and monitoring/enforcement of fishing.
Pollution is also causing much harm to our oceans and a majority of the Earth’s pollution can once more be blamed on human beings. Trash pollution on oceans and beaches is an easily solved problem, as long as people stop being careless and simply make sure to clean up after themselves. Taking care of our oceans and not littering while on the beach is quite feasible and could potentially save our Earth.
While I could continue on and on about the negative, harmful issues that are being placed upon our oceans, it will not change the simple fact that if we want our Earth to take care of us, we must first take care of it. Most problems that are speeding along the process of hurting this ecosystem can be tied back to human beings. We can certainly turn around the fate that our world currently has, as long as become more environmentally conscious and change our ways.