I have always been in awe of the ocean, and how it is such a powerful entity that keeps our entire planet in balance. The ocean is an inspiring and beautiful environment, full of unexplored depths and species. If treated without care, we risk the health of the entire world.
Even though I have spent my entire life in the Midwest, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit the ocean at least once every year. Over the past 19 years, I have noticed a difference in the health of our oceans, and I think more people need to be concerned about these rapid changes. As we increase our use of fossil fuels, the air pollution is increasing, causing our oceans to warm. This warming is especially harmful to coral reefs, the cornerstone of the ocean ecosystem. Corals cannot handle this increase in temperatures and therefore die. Currently, over two-thirds of The Great Barrier Reef (the largest coral reef system in the world), has experienced coral bleaching. This puts the rest of the ecosystem in imbalance.
Another form of pollution is trash. The lack of recycling across the globe causes large amounts of trash to pile up in certain areas of the oceans. Ocean trash patches are large in size, we even named one the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Once beautiful beaches are turning into piles of trash. For someone who loves the ocean, this deeply saddens me. However, I do not think many people realize the effects our everyday lives have on the ocean. It is easy to live in the Midwest, surrounded by countryside, hundreds of miles away from any coast, and to not think about how throwing your water bottle away rather than recycling it could affect the environment. With this being said, I urge you to research ways to help the ocean environment and to consider how even the littlest efforts can make a difference.