Oceans: Why And How We Should Repay Them

Oceans. The calming, deep blue beauty that supports most of marine life in the world underwater. The large reservoir of water that takes up more than half our beloved Earth, helping our land, too. The gorgeous liquid land of aqua that takes up more carbon dioxide than ever, helping us through climate change.

Oceans are a huge part in our ecosystems all over the world. They are an escape from the heat on land, engulfing you with coolness. If you compare the impacts of oceans on taking in carbon dioxide comparing to everything else, you would be surprised how much difference there is.

But as much as these great oceans do for us, they are just as severely hit by climate change. Factors such as plastic pollution and fossil fuel combustion affect ocean temperatures and hundreds of thousands of marine species that call it home. Over time, ocean temperatures have risen more than 1° F. That might not really seem like a lot, but it is. Water takes a long time to heat up, and to think that a large reservoir of water that takes up more than half the Earth has already increased by 1 degree is pretty surprising. Warming water levels also takes up more and more oxygen from oceans, killing and crowding more marine species, which is not good for them or the ocean. There are also rising levels of water, increasing the risk of flooding and natural disasters. More heat effects in more humidity in the air, causing more ferocious storms and harmful weather conditions. Pollution also effects in the ocean having more acidic water, not being good to organisms living there.

So how can we stop this?

There are many ways to stop this. If we want a cleaner Earth, cleaning the ocean is a wise step to take. And if we choose this decision, we would help not only the ocean itself reduce temperatures, but save lives, both humans' and marine animals'.

So these are some choices you could make:

1. Clean up our beaches. Cleaning up our beaches definitely helps. Not only do our plastics release greenhouse gases after some time as they are left on the ground, they also kill animals by suffocating them or by weakening them as they enter the stomach.

2. Never let a piece of litter (or any other man - made item) flow into a storm drain. From pesticides to herbicides to fertilizers to plastic bags to any type of man - made litter, NEVER, EVER let them go down a storm drain. The only thing that is allowed to go through it is water. Many times, these items empty out into many natural reservoirs, such as lakes, rivers, and eventually the ocean. This would pollute the ocean and kill many species.

3. Use organic materials to treat your plants (if you have them) and your lawn. Never use any such chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers to treat your lawn and/or plants. It's better to use natural or organic materials. Composting to recycle nutrients back to the soil, using vinegar, grass clippings and dish soap to kill weeds, and having good soil, white vinegar, and citrus peels to keep off insects are all natural ways to treat your plants and lawn without using too many chemicals.

4. Make sure your trash doesn't fly off. In many places, people put out their trash and recycling bins for others to collect, right? Well, many times, when it's a windy day, those bins might topple over and the trash and/or recycling bins might spill out what's inside of them, and that may fly everywhere, to different places, until they reach a reservoir or a storm drain, polluting water or even land, letting out more greenhouse gases. So it's better to at least try to keep track of that or cover the bins protectively somehow.

5. As much as you can, use alternative, sustainable energy. It always comes back to this: using sustainable energy. And that doesn't mean suddenly buying an electric car, since it's higher cost than many other vehicles. But that just means to try and buy at least a hybrid car, use more public transport, use bikes and walk more, and find more sustainable ways in using energy and heating your home. This contributes to way less carbon in the air, so the oceans don't have to absorb as much.

6. Reuse!!! Reusing doesn't seem to have that much in common with the ocean, right? But it does. Many things you buy are manufactured from factories, whether it's a plastic bag or a gorgeous textile. If you use durable, reusable materials and use them for longer instead of buying new ones or even if you create your own materials and some of your clothes, you could make a big change in the world. Anyways, did you know that textile mills are the reason for 20% of water pollution? And that millions of tonnes of plastic are created every year, which could end up polluting our world, including the oceans??

So these are many ways how you can lessen the pollution in our oceans, and how you can clean our world's biggest cleaner of carbon. Including more people will further the impact and we would be able to help both marine and land life together.