'O' for Oxygen, 'O' for Oceans

We all have been grown up listening to slogans ‘Save trees’ and ‘Trees are lungs of earth’ and the reason being they provide us oxygen. But have we ever been curious to know about the real lungs of our mother earth? 

Well, we definitely need trees to survive but more than that we need oceans to survive.

You might wonder how we are dependent on oceans. Here's the reason, scientists estimate 50-80% of oxygen production on Earth comes from the Ocean. Phytoplankton - algae releases oxygen during their photosynthesis process. It captures 40% of all CO2 produced.

Interesting fact check on global warming:

We all might think that the biggest contributor to temperature rise is CO2, but the greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming highest is none other than water vapor.

Then one question will definitely strike you ‘Why so much attention is given to reduce CO2?’ The answer to this question is warming caused by man-made emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are increasing the amount of water vapor in the air by boosting the rate of evaporation.

Trees vs Oceans:

- According to scientific reports, a 1% increase in phytoplankton productivity is equivalent to 2 billion mature trees.

- Whales found in the ocean accumulate an average of 33 tones of CO2. When they die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean, locking that carbon away for hundreds of years.

- Whales multiply the phytoplankton productivity by a phenomenon called 'whale pump'.

Cleaner oceans lead to sustainable and economical lifestyle

Ocean is an important source of food. Pressure on resources and the environment have led to calls for food production and for people’s diets to change. If properly managed and maintained, ocean could form an important part of a more sustainable approach to feeding the planet’s growing human population. Even if we focus on the economical aspect, ocean creates millions of jobs. The economic health of maritime industries is fundamentally linked to the overall health of the oceans.

Conclusion: 

In a nutshell, conservation of oceans is crucial along with conservation of forests. And it’s a high time we should pay attention to our oceans which let us breathe. What we can do as individuals? Definitely, if we think realistically conserving existing forests and planting trees is something which we can indulge ourselves directly in. And there are a lot of things which we can do as a whole system by working over waste management so that lesser waste will get dumped into the ocean.

From:
Madhura Herlekar
Joint Event Director, ELESA.