While we only technically get one dedicated day a year to celebrating our beloved big blue, it’s important to remember that every day is ocean day because without it, life wouldn’t exist on this planet.
This year’s World Oceans Day theme is Revitalization.
With an average of 2,000 new species still being discovered every year (The Ocean Conference United Nations, New York, June 5-9, 2017), the ocean is teeming with life, but our human activities endanger its future each and every day. We are losing species at an alarming rate, and those are just the ones we know about! Given how much life the ocean has given - and joy - to us thalassophiles - it’s high time we started giving something back.
At times when the ocean feels so large, we have all asked ourselves how we could possibly create any lasting impact as individuals. The truth is, we need every single one of us to pull together at every level of society if we’re going to really turn this story around. But we can’t wait for everyone to jump on the bandwagon before we get going. We need to get moving now. The rest will follow.
There is so much good work that is already being done around the globe by groups of like-minded individuals helping to protect our oceans and bring life back to our waters. Scubavox started as an attempt to catalogue those activities and our database continues to grow with 850+ organizations thus far, showing no signs of stopping.
While I’m sure you’re all itching to jump in the water and propagate some coral, detangle some fishing gear, or remove some rubbish, there is plenty you can do to help from your living room. Spread awareness, help others become ocean literate, make smart consumer choices, donate to those who need resources to effect change in the water, participate in local community projects, clean up, lend your skills to charities, sign petitions, vote for our oceans and environment, give your time to ocean projects. Most importantly: don’t wait to be asked to help, be pro-active. You never know what small act or word might make all the difference to the movement.
And to those who aren’t quite convinced yet that we need to protect our ocean’s diversity (or if you need a line to share with your friends that you’re still trying to convert), here is some food for thought: to quote Sylvia Earle, “The bottom-line answer to the question about why biodiversity matters is fairly simple: the rest of the living world can get along without us, but we can’t get along without them.”
We are proud to lend our voice to the conversation.
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