Welcome to Voice for the Ocean Blog
Every day we hear about climate change, rising sea levels, plastics, extinction rates, ocean conservation and exceptional catastrophic changing weather patterns - it's hard not to hear about it. But it's also hard to understand the science, the politicians and the industry leaders - most people don't have an extra 6 hours each day to keep up to speed making it even harder to accept that one individual can actually make a difference .
And most people generally don't know what's actually happening or even when it's going to happen, if at all. It's generally bad news and no-one likes hearing that they've failed at everything every hour of every day, do they? The issues facing us are so overwhelming that you and 7 billion others have stopped listing or thinking that there is nothing you can do?
Trying to saving the planet may seem a little daunting to most of us
Media opinion can vary and often scientists have their own language and don't always agree with each other. Some industries even have polar opposite views. But most people have heard about global warming, climate change, plastic pollution, carbon footprints, tipping points etc and, now increasingly about nations failing to meet carbon emission targets and the dire prospects for the planet. Some people will ignore the messages, some will think they are a hoax, some will even think that it’s not as bad as the media say and sadly, most will believe it’s so far in the future, it’s not going to affect them.
The truth is we really are on a fast track to causing severe, widespread and irreversible damage to the planet which will affect billions of people and change our lives forever. This is no longer a problem for nations, governments and industries to deal with. Each of us has the power to cause rapid change through the use of our buying habits, our voices and our voting rights. Do you want your children, grandchildren and loved ones to have to fight for their survival to ask 'Why didn't you do more? Think about it.
Photo by Ian Dyball
We desperately need to change the way we do things - and fast - we are on track to cause irreversible damage to the oceans.
OUR OCEANS ARE IN CRISIS
We are destroying the oceans in many different ways. And sadly today, everything in the ocean from the smallest organism to largest living structure – (the Great Barrier Reef), as well as saltwater bays, seas and inlets, the shorelines and salt marshes has been negatively impacted.
Blue whales are an endangered species and this beautiful whale was spotted near Marissa, Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean
ENDANGERED SPECIES
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Blue whales are an endangered species and this beautiful whale was spotted near Marissa, Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean
Voice for the Ocean Blog
Voice for the Ocean Blog
Collection of short articles explaining what's happening to our ocean, why it's happening, the consequences and how you can make a difference
The oceans cover more than 70% of the planet and are in crisis because of our increasingly reckless actions. Healthy oceans are critical to our survival because ultimately, all life is connected in one way or another to the ocean and, no matter how far you live from a shore line what you do today, tomorrow and every day of your life has an impact.
Our climate is changing at a rate that is unprecedented over decades of millennia. The current warming trend is really affecting the marine environment. Warming seawater temperatures, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and changes in currents, upwelling and weather patterns all have started to cause fundamental changes in the nature and character of our marine and coastal ecosystems.
Threatened With Extinction
These are just a few of the marine animals facing extinction
When you take a step back to think about our (humanities) relationship with the oceans, you quickly realize how crucial the harmony of that relationship is for our own survival. The irony of our current situation is that given all life did originate from the depths of the ocean about 4 billion years ago and we will cease to exist if we let the oceans die. If nothing changes today, we wait for our own extinction.
The oceans cover more than 70% of Earth’s surface, drive our weather patterns, produces over half of the air we breathe, store more than half of the carbon we emit, and provide nutrition for nearly 4 billion people. Eight out of the ten most populous cities on earth are coastal and over half of the world's population lives within 200 km of the coastline. Around 80 million tons of fish are caught annually by 3 million marine fishing vessels, making more than 10% of the world's population totally dependent on fisheries for their livelihood.
But sadly today, the unprecedented unnatural extinction rates of many marine species continues to accelerate mainly due to our increasingly reckless behavior and activities. All life originated from the ocean and now we are killing it.
Without question, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the most widely accepted and universally used conservation listing and ranking system - and their Marine Biodiversity Unit is completely focused on marine conservation. Their ambitious goal is to have 160,000 assessed species on the Red List by 2020 and in their own words 'make The IUCN Red List a more complete Barometer of Life'. They rely on donations and every penny helps (link to their 'Get Involved' page).