We are constantly taught how important it is to conserve our ocean. We’re told to take better care of it, to not throw garbage into it and to do everything in our power to protect it. However, most of us don’t really realize why we it’s so important and what is really at stake.
The most abundant resource that we get from the ocean, especially as Maldivians, would be the food that we eat in the form of fish and various types of crustaceans. The ocean also helps us farm renewable energy and this is turn would help us to get rid of harmful sources of energy that deplete our ozone layer and pollutes the air we breathe. On the contrary the ocean removes carbon from the air and surprisingly, is the largest provider of oxygen.
The ocean is also an increasingly important source of biomedical organisms with enormous potential for fighting disease. Apart from marine animals, coral reefs play an important role in providing us with medicine to treat asthma, arthritis, cancer, bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, viruses and is even used in pain killers.
We have to thank the ocean not just for medicine but even day-to-day products that we use such as ice cream, yoghurt, salad dressing, shampoos and even cake mixes. It also provides us with jobs and the income of our country depends directly on the ocean through fishing and tourism. It also provides us with quite a lot of recreational activities.
At this point I’m sure you realize just how important the ocean is and we all have to personally take on the responsibility to ensure that we keep our ocean safe.
We have to implement important habits into our lives and teach the people around us that it is not okay to throw garbage into the ocean even if it’s a harmless wrapper thrown out of a ferry window. Since the final resting place for most plastic bags is the ocean how about we carry a backpack while shopping or even a tote bag made from cloth that we can reuse. The Maldivian islands are so small that you can reach anywhere on foot in a matter of minutes, so how about we only drive on a motorcycle or car when it’s absolutely needed. If not we can try to walk which helps not just the environment but it also helps us to stay active and healthy.
There are so many things we can do to protect our ocean so create awareness and help each other to make sure we do not lose the abundance of blessings we get from the ocean.