Our oceans are beautiful, magical places. From the vibrant colours of warm water Coral Reefs to the gracefully swaying underwater cathedrals produced by kelp forests in much colder water, our oceans are teeming with life. All these creatures are connected in an intricate web of interdependence, with the actions of any one of them having complex consequences to the rest of the ecosystem.
It's easy to forget, but we too are a part of this ecosystem. This means both that our actions have far reaching consequences for our oceans, and also that what happens in our oceans has significant consequences for humanity.
Over the last 50 years we have put increasing pressure on the oceans from a number of fronts:
We're at a crucial juncture with our oceans. At the dawn of the industrial revolution 150 years ago, the oceans were seen as boundless resources - anything we did was "but a drop in the ocean". Due to our technological advances since then, this no longer holds true, and we need to act rapidly to avoid doing permanent harm simply by doing what we've always done - just on a larger and larger scale. The United Nations has realised this urgency and has declared 2021-2030 to be 'The Ocean Decade'.
So what's to be done, and in particular what can I do?
This is a question we've been asking ourselves for a number of years. While many of these issues will require a component of government policy change, we've identified a number of simple behaviour changes that we can all make to get the ball rolling.
Here are 7 simple changes we can all make:
This is no "holier than thou" preaching. I have to admit that I'm far from perfect when it comes to always remembering to action these ideas, but I am trying to integrate these changes into my life too.
Empowering the next generation
School-age students today are acutely aware that the world they're inheriting is not the world that their parents grew up in. This has led to a range of reactions, from the palpable anger expressed during the climate change protests of 2018 to an ongoing background "climate anxiety". We wanted to give students both the knowledge that they need to understand the range of issues facing our oceans, and also a set of proactive steps they can take to minimise their footprint on the oceans. To achieve this, we've partnered with Education Perfect along with teachers in Australia and New Zealand to deliver a set of lessons focused around Sustainable Oceans.
The lessons have three key messages:
These lessons will be made freely available to all students in Australia and New Zealand. We will also be running a competition on Education Perfect coinciding with World Ocean Day to promote the lessons and encourage students to engage with them.
These lessons are our first attempt at engaging with these issues in the public realm. We've tried to be as even-handed as possible with them and to focus on solutions rather than placing blame. We've also very deliberately kept them as apolitical as possible, as we believe that people from all positions on the political spectrum share our goal to have a healthy planet for their children, even if they disagree on how we should get there. As with everything, a first attempt is seldom perfect and we're sure that there will be room for improvement and iteration, so we welcome feedback on how we can make these lessons a better resource for all of our kids.
If you would like to learn more about the lessons, ______________
It's easy to forget, but we too are a part of this ecosystem. This means both that our actions have far reaching consequences for our oceans, and also that what happens in our oceans has significant consequences for humanity.
Over the last 50 years we have put increasing pressure on the oceans from a number of fronts:
- Our release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere has raised ocean temperatures and made our seas more acidic, causing numerous mass coral bleaching events and _____________.
- Our increasingly sophisticated fishing technology has allowed us to seek out and harvest fish stocks from every corner of the planet. It's estimated that we've fished out 90% of the large predatory fish in the ocean and 80% of global fish stocks are either fully exploited or over-exploited.
- We have discarded an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic into the oceans, which has broken down and entered the food chain, with dire results for many ocean inhabitants, particularly seabirds.
- Habitat destruction - TODO Between the destruction of mangroves for land reclamation and the bulldozing of underwater _____ by bottom trawling fisheries, we're destroying the very _____ of . Runoff/polution.
We're at a crucial juncture with our oceans. At the dawn of the industrial revolution 150 years ago, the oceans were seen as boundless resources - anything we did was "but a drop in the ocean". Due to our technological advances since then, this no longer holds true, and we need to act rapidly to avoid doing permanent harm simply by doing what we've always done - just on a larger and larger scale. The United Nations has realised this urgency and has declared 2021-2030 to be 'The Ocean Decade'.
So what's to be done, and in particular what can I do?
This is a question we've been asking ourselves for a number of years. While many of these issues will require a component of government policy change, we've identified a number of simple behaviour changes that we can all make to get the ball rolling.
Here are 7 simple changes we can all make:
- Take an interest in what's happening down at your local beach, or even better, put on a snorkel or some scuba gear and see what's going on underwater in your neighbourhood
- Eat seafood responsibly. Take an interest in what you're eating and look up how it's harvested. Try to only eat sustainably fished or grown seafood. Australians have a sustainable seafood guide published on https://goodfish.org.au/, while New Zealanders have one published by Forest and Bird (https://bestfishguide.org.nz/)
- Reduce our consumption of red meat. Cows and sheep are unfortunately very inefficient ways to feed ourselves. Between the methane they produce, the land that gets cleared to grow them and the supplementary feed they require (particularly overseas), they leave a heavy footprint (hoofprint?) on the planet. Both New Zealand and Australia have a long heritage as dairy farmers and sheep farmers, so this is going to be a gradual transition for most of us, but we can each make a start. Try starting off by finding one meal a week where you can swap red meat for a vegetarian protein source such as beans or lentils.
- Optimise how we get around. Compared to each of us driving our own vehicles, car pooling, taking public transport, or cycling all produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
- Does it really need to be wrapped in plastic? Where possible, avoid plastic packaging, particularly for single-use items. Thanks to our consumer demand, businesses are waking up and switching to more sustainable packaging options.
- Take an interest in how your local government is treating the environment. While _______________
This is no "holier than thou" preaching. I have to admit that I'm far from perfect when it comes to always remembering to action these ideas, but I am trying to integrate these changes into my life too.
Empowering the next generation
School-age students today are acutely aware that the world they're inheriting is not the world that their parents grew up in. This has led to a range of reactions, from the palpable anger expressed during the climate change protests of 2018 to an ongoing background "climate anxiety". We wanted to give students both the knowledge that they need to understand the range of issues facing our oceans, and also a set of proactive steps they can take to minimise their footprint on the oceans. To achieve this, we've partnered with Education Perfect along with teachers in Australia and New Zealand to deliver a set of lessons focused around Sustainable Oceans.
The lessons have three key messages:
- Our oceans are amazing, extremely important to humanity, and worthy of protecting
- Our oceans are currently facing a number of specific threats
- While we can't individually solve these problems, there are a range of simple changes that we can make to our lives to minimise our impact on them
These lessons will be made freely available to all students in Australia and New Zealand. We will also be running a competition on Education Perfect coinciding with World Ocean Day to promote the lessons and encourage students to engage with them.
These lessons are our first attempt at engaging with these issues in the public realm. We've tried to be as even-handed as possible with them and to focus on solutions rather than placing blame. We've also very deliberately kept them as apolitical as possible, as we believe that people from all positions on the political spectrum share our goal to have a healthy planet for their children, even if they disagree on how we should get there. As with everything, a first attempt is seldom perfect and we're sure that there will be room for improvement and iteration, so we welcome feedback on how we can make these lessons a better resource for all of our kids.
If you would like to learn more about the lessons, ______________