Tag: #ocean day

Endless blues: World’s Ocean Day.

What is it About?

World Oceans Day is a worldwide initiative by the United Nations to spread knowledge and awareness about the vast expanse of oceans on Earth. It is based on the idea of preserving the infinite number of life forms and coral reefs that are a part of the ocean and being aware of how human actions can harm their natural habitat. The principal focus of this initiative is to bring the oceans at the forefront of global environmental discussions, and plan and execute a sustainable method to save our oceans and the planet at large.

When is World Oceans Day?

We celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8, and a lot of activities at global, national and community levels are organised worldwide to observe this event.

What is the History of World Ocean Day?

World Oceans Day was first proposed by Canada’s International Centre for Ocean Development and the Ocean Institute of Canada in 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since 2002, the World Ocean Network has been instrumental in garnering support and organising worldwide activities on June 8. A huge network of more than 2000 organisations worldwide are invested in making sure that the ocean is protected from any damage due to technology or other human actions.

Why is World Oceans Day Important?

The composition, temperature, currents and life in the oceans drive every natural system that makes Earth habitable for humankind. Even the balance of oxygen that we breathe is primarily dependent on the ocean. The health of our oceans has become a matter of grave concern, due to the damage they have endured.

Dedicating a particular day to this cause not only helps in spreading awareness among people, but also in mobilising conscientious civic and political efforts towards addressing this global problem. Though spending just one day celebrating the oceans is not enough to bring about the changes required to conserve marine ecology, it works wonders as a starting point for people, especially young minds, to come together to take action against any damage done to ocean.

Other Important Facts About World Oceans Day

Knowing about World Oceans Day is not enough for your children to be able to grasp the whole concept of how important the ocean is for human survival. To encourage your children to celebrate our oceans and strive to make a difference, you could share some fun facts on World Oceans Day and how important the oceans are:

• 97% of Earth’s water is in the oceans, which is home to more than 200, 000 known species and millions of unidentified organisms.

• The oceans purify the air we breathe by absorbing 30% of the carbon dioxide in the air, which also helps in reducing the effects of global warming and climate change.

• Oceans are the world’s largest source of protein, and more than 2.6 billion people depend on the oceans as their primary source of protein.

• 40% of the oceans of the world are today affected by human actions causing pollution, depletion of fisheries, loss of coral reefs and endangerment of marine species. Seven out of the 13 great whale species are endangered today.

•13, 000, 000 tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean water each year. It has been predicted that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Over 100, 000 marine wildlife animals are killed each year due to plastic contamination of the oceans.

• Each year a new theme is assigned to this day to cover different aspects of marine life and human dependency on oceans. In 2020, the celebratory theme on World Oceans Day is “Gender and The Ocean”, which emphasises the harm that gender disparity can bring to our oceans.

• The President of UN General Assembly has launched a global campaign “Play It Out”, against the use of plastic.

• Marine Protected Areas have been chalked out as an initiative to protect the oceans from illegal fishing.

• Jellyfish as a species is older than dinosaurs and has been on this earth for more than 650, 000 years.

• 75% of the world’s volcanoes are located under the Pacific Ocean around Ring of Fire, the largest zone of active volcanoes.

World Ocean Days Activities for Kids

It doesn’t matter how small their hands are, children can drive this movement and even inspire adults to participate. Here are a few activities that your kids can organise on World Oceans Day:

  1. Clean-up Drive

Invite all the children in the neighbourhood to the beach or any water body close by to clean the area. This will help them to understand how much litter ends up in the oceans through different waterways polluting the habitat of marine life.

  1. Ocean Themed Programme

An ocean theme-based arts and crafts competition can attract a lot of attention from children of all ages. You can engage kids in a drawing competition and then display their creative works. You can even inspire a few young writers to submit stories and poems based on marine life.

  1. Ocean Hunt

Treasure hunts are an intriguing way to engage children. Keeping the spirit of World Oceans Day, you can organise an ocean hunt by creating puzzles around facts from the oceanic world, leading to prizes like ornaments made out of sea-shells, passes to any nearby aquarium, books with interesting facts about the ocean, etc.

  1. Storytelling Competition

It is safe to say that all kids love stories, especially when they get to be the judge of who is the best storyteller. Engage the adults around and encourage them to bring in their theatrical talents to entice the kids with amazing storytelling skills. You can always use the sounds of the waves or wild animals from the ocean to enhance your performance.

5.Let the Kids Instruct

No child will say no to an opportunity to give some sound advice to his/her parents. Ask the children to make a list of human actions that harm our oceans and come up with instructional ideas to preserve them. Organise a session with all the adults, where the kids present their points of view on how to keep our oceans and planet safe.

“Understanding Our Oceans”

Human and it’s bonding with nature has helped him to understand various aspects and secrets hidden in it. Nature has some how been more powerful than the abilities of man and has tested his patience at regular intervals. But our environment has most oftenly provided with the resources which has helped the dynasties to follow up. Human has been moving to places since ages in search of better good and cleaner water to drink. And water being one of the most essential item for the survival has not let itself down, instead has helped human in anyway it could be it as a thirst remover or helping out with food to eat.

On the occasion of “Ocean Day” Which is usually celebrated every year on “8th of June”, we will acknowledge how benefitted we are by these water resource, how are these getting affected day by day and what initial steps can we take to save it and help remain it clean.

Oceans and other water resources have often helped humans to survive either helping through drinking source or travelling or even providing food in hard times. But other than this:

1.These have been a greater source of oxygen generators and helping out in dumping the emissions of carbon dioxide. Thus helps in maintaining the adequate oxygen level for all living beings to live.

2.Moreover it also helps to maintain the temperature of the earth or in simple words it helps in regulating the climate conditions and helps in maintaining a balance of hot and cold environment around the globe.

3.But one of the greatest benefit to human is that oceans and areas near oceans or sea are a good place to enjoy holidays or weekends and trips. It not only freshes the mood of individuals but also gives them a close touch to nature and it’s essence of calmness. People usually perform various water activities, like jet skiing, under water Coral visit, sometimes even swimming also and alot more.

4.Other than all these, it is a good source of sea food generation and people widely invest in eating these cuisine. And many more benefits of it.

But in today’s era, we humans are not really taking care of these resources and rather are deteriorating the quality of these, which truely is affecting oceans, life in it and therefore ourselves also. So the major things which are deteriorating the quality are:

1.Throwing of plastic and things made of plastic in it.

2.Releasing out wastage of the cities or nearby areas into it.

3. Melting of glaciers , leading to rise of water levels and thus a major threat to cities around these oceans. This is due to increasing temperature of earth due to emissions of carbon content.

4.And a lot many things which are making these resources dangerous.

But what can be done and initials steps can be taken to protect these very important resources from getting degraded:

1. The prior is to limit the usage of plastic and things made of it.

2. Cleaning of beach, so that the waste around it does not get mixed up in the ocean when the waves come by.

3.Limit the carbon content being released in the atmosphere every day, by shifting to sustainable form of energy and reducing the use of energy sources emitting these harmful gases.

4.During having a tour around the ocean, never threw any waste out in these pure resources.

5. Understand the importance of marine life and also these oceans and thus aware yourself and others around you to protect these resources.

So the reason to celebrate Ocean day is to aware every one about the importance of these essential component of our earth and showcase how these resources play an essential role in our day to day life and this is surely a way to thank these and make sure to protect them from any kind of mistreatment.

But what people usually do on ocean day. The activities mainly include:

1.People conduct and connect with various awareness campaigns for protecting this resource.

2. Most people conduct clean up drives, which are mainly concentrated on collection of waste around the beaches and also in the oceans and make sure these remain cleaner.

3.Most people also prefer not to eat sea food on this day.

4.Spend times with their family in the evening discussing about the importance of this resources and key steps to help it remain cleaner.

So the key aspect of “Ocean Day” is to understand the importance of water, how it is an essential component for our survival and how can we help it remain clean and pollution free . But the key point to focus is, the care of oceans or any other water resource must not remain focused on these specific days only and rather much be worked on for each and every day in the calendar and thus protect our earth from