My Passion For Saving The Oceans
Regards!
My name is Antonella Cantillo, a 14 year old 9th grade student at American School, in Puerto Colombia, so it's an honor to present the global issue that I’m most passionate about solving, which is the oceans' conservation.
Overfishing, pollution, and habitat destruction are some of the causes why the ocean is losing its abilities to provide enormous benefits that humans rely on. All of this is happening because of the rapid climate change and the acidification of seawater, which reduces the ability of the water to absorb carbon and regulate the temperature in the globe.
People need air to breathe, food to eat, medicines, beauty
and inspiration, people want a beautiful and magical life for the ones they love, they want them to be prosperous and live happily and healthily. How is this possible if one of the largest ecosystems on the earth, the one that is life’s supporter, the one that generates half of the oxygen we are breathing right now is warming 40% faster than the last century?
Global warming/Climate change is not a recent fact, the debate is over and since 2001 it’s known that global warming is caused by our fossil fuel emissions, which increases greenhouse gases in our earth's atmosphere.
But, what impact does global warming have in the oceans?Global warming has 2 effects on the oceans: the sea level rises from the melting of the ice sheets and glaciers and the acidification of the oceans.
Ocean pollution can have serious economic and health impacts by killing marine life and damaging habitats and ecosystems. Habitat destruction by introducing “alien” species or non native species to an ecosystem are one of the major causes of decreased biodiversity, placed intentionally and unintentionally they tend to disrupt ecosystem balance.
How can we help?
It doesn’t matter how your economic situation is, doing simple activities like recycling, cleaning the trash from the beaches or maybe changing your lifestyle a little bit, using eco-friendly objects like fabric bags instead of plastic ones, or saving small amounts of money that your parents give you, as part of your allowance, so you can donate to different organizations that love taking care of the oceans, like Oceana, which is the largest in the world and has achieved hundreds of concrete policy victories for marine life and habitats, The Ocean Conservacy, Project AWARE Foundation, Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF), and
The Nature Conservancy, an organization created in 1951 that operates more than 100 marine projects at a global level.
Let's start working now!, do not wait just for June 8th, the UN day to celebrate the role of the ocean in our everyday's lives. Remember, one day not far from us, we might not have them.
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"It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist: the threat is rather to life itself."
— Rachel Carson, a Marine Biologist
By Antonella Cantillo, Step 9
