World Oceans Day

World Oceans Day

World Oceans Day is a day to think about the extremely important role that the oceans play in all our lives, the dangers that are facing our oceans and the actions we can take to protect them.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.

Preparation

There is only one global ocean. This is divided into five geographical regions: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean.   

Introduction

Seventy per cent of our planet is covered by one huge, continuous body of seawater – the ocean. It holds 1.35 billion cubic kilometres of water. Nearly half of the ocean is more than 3 kilometres deep. The deepest known point of the ocean is in the Mariana Trench, 11 kilometres below sea level. But there may be deeper points that we have not seen, as we have only explored five per cent of the ocean to date.

World Oceans Day

The government of Canada suggested the idea of World Oceans Day at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In 2008 the United Nations officially recognised the date and it has been growing ever since, from 100 events in 2008 to over a thousand events in more than 120 countries ten years later. The day is celebrated in a variety of ways, including special events at aquariums and zoos, beach and river clean-ups, school activities, conservation programmes, art contests and film festivals.

The importance of our oceans

One of the main aims of the day is to remind people of the important role the ocean plays in our lives. Life began in the ocean. And the ocean is home to the majority of plants and animals on Earth, from single-cell organisms to the blue whale. Marine plants provide us with 70 per cent of the oxygen we breathe. The ocean controls the climate, providing heat in winter and cool air in summer. It also provides us with food and medicines as well as transport. No matter where you live on the planet, no matter how far from the sea, your life is dependent on the ocean.

The problems facing our oceans

The most urgent problem facing the ocean at the moment is plastic pollution. Reducing one-use plastic, including plastic bags and plastic bottles, has been an important theme for World Oceans Day for a number of years. Climate change and rising sea temperatures are also a huge problem. Rising sea temperatures have a direct influence on weather patterns and are seen as partly responsible for an increase in extreme weather conditions. An increase in carbon dioxide is increasing the acid levels of seawater and putting many marine organisms at risk.  

What we can do to help

On World Oceans Day, wear blue, go on a march, find a beach or river clean-up near you, organise a local event, print a poster and put it in your window, or use the hashtag #worldoceansday on social media. There are so many things you can do on 8 June to join in the celebrations, to remind people about the importance of the ocean in our lives and to make a difference!

Discussion

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Submitted by muyanik on Tue, 06/06/2023 - 11:28

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This is very informative article about saving natural sourches, especially oceans. Today, we are facing global climatic change because of desruction of the nature. İf it goes like this, we would not leave a good world-nature for our children.

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Submitted by Susan da Bitwierd on Thu, 01/06/2023 - 11:41

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I am from Taiwan, and I do not see any troubles with the ocean. However, since I found out about World Oceans Day, I now know that the problems t are just to come. I, with my friends, shall do all we can to stop using non-sustainable plastics for shopping and other things.

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Submitted by Bignon on Tue, 01/06/2021 - 23:17

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I wasn't aware of the role that ocean plays in our life. But through this article I can say that there won't be life on the earth without ocean simply because we can't stay alive without oxygen. In my live I think I need ocean for the food it provides to me, I like eating sea food, such as roasted fish. I envoy sending time on beaches, to relax. Bank holiday can be so calming and refreshing. I always feel better after spending time on beach. So want I could do to celebrate this day might be to raise awareness about the importance of ocean in our live, take part in cleaning-up movement and try to keep ocean clean everytime I would have the opportunity to go to beach.

Submitted by Thinthinmyoe on Mon, 31/05/2021 - 10:42

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I think oceans are very important for everyone.We must save oceans and marine life.

Submitted by yusufuldiz on Mon, 29/03/2021 - 11:50

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People should be taught against the pollution and also laws should be more solid against it. I've never seen an ocean before but i always see the similar things on the black sea and one should be blind to not see the seriousness of the issue.
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Submitted by danisep on Wed, 06/01/2021 - 17:38

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I think that we could help a lot with our consumerism, not buying plastic bottles, using eco-bags and decrease our meat consumption. companies put two options In the market, for they are more profitable to sell plastic products and not processing glass bottles again so by the moment is our decision. Obviously, we could help to separate our trash and clean up rivers and beaches when we may.

Submitted by cittàutopica on Sat, 02/01/2021 - 14:31

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I live near the Adriatic Sea, which is a "closed" sea, therefore it's less exposed to the turnover of the currents. I think the best way for celebrating World Oceans Day is limiting the marine pollution.

Submitted by Liv hoang on Sun, 18/10/2020 - 04:33

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I love oceans and want to save them. I think it’s difficult to change the horible situation that our oceans are facing. But if we try together, we can do it. Many people don’t know and don’t care about this important problem so the plastic waste is increase quickly day by day. I am very worried about that.

Submitted by Julia19 on Fri, 12/06/2020 - 09:50

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I live far from the ocean coast, but I realy like to move to the see on my vacation. I think the best thing we could do on celebrating day is to remind people of scale of the problem and to persuade people to use eco-bags and bootles. Also a big contribution would be made if we cleaned the nearest water place round us on this day . Of course we should remember this in all days not only on the 8 June.