Is the Ocean's Destruction Reversible?
By Cynthia Kirkeby
Aug 5, 2008, 21:02 PST
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Researchers say there is six times more plastic than plankton in the ocean. The shark population has been depleted by 90-percent, upsetting the delicate circle-of-life balance that creates harmony in the sea. Oil drilling, whaling, overfishing and pollution all take part in destroying the same ocean that sustains humans with consistent weather, food and jobs. The Pew Environmental Group believes the past 50 years of human activity has irreparably damaged even the most remote parts of the ocean.
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| Key West, FL--LT Harry Greene looks for fish as part of a three-person diving team sent to the Florida Keys to count fish for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Photo courtesy LT Harry Greene |
The oceans’ currents and water temperature control weather patterns, and a few degrees warmer or cooler can significantly affect hurricanes, typhoons and droughts. Millions of jobs and hundreds of economies rely on the sea. Have we destroyed ocean life beyond it's ability to recover?
“We are destroying the ocean,” says world-renowned marine wildlife photographer/cinematographer and former US Marine Tom Campbell. He believes too much damage has been done to the ocean over the past few generations for the sea to recover enough to return to its original balance, but he does hope to stop the damage from progressing. “20 years ago when I taught diving classes in California’s northern Channel Islands, I told my students to be careful when they touched the bottom because so many harmless angel sharks lay in the sand. Today, you can dive for 7 days and not see one. It’s another species dying out – this one in less than two decades.”
“We need to reach the next generation and inspire them to care about their environment. Soon it may be too late to save our oceans and, consequently, our planet. Before his death in 1997 Jacques Cousteau told Time Magazine, “The oceans are in danger of dying… In the past, the sea renewed itself. It was a continuous cycle. But this cycle is being upset….Some scientists think it’s too late. I don’t think so.”
© Copyright 2008 by Classbrain.com
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